Crest of Infinity
by Denthasus
Summary: Digimon Adventure 02: Takes place after the story, Dark Hope. An old ally (OC) returns to test the newer Digidestined. He needs to know that he can trust all twelve children to help him regain the Crest of Infinity from the ever-existing evils.
1. Return of Infinity

Notes: I wanted to rewrite the story because I really needed to change a few things. Plus I wanted to insert a better plot. Ixen still belongs to me. And anything that is directly owned by Ixen, like Cynomon and the D-Pack, belong to me.

* * *

~SORA~

I ran towards the tennis ball and managed to save it. It flew over the net and I was relieved. Coach passed by my court and I became nervous again. I made sure to try my best so I wouldn't mess up.

She walked away and I focused on making sure I could win. After a lot of rallies, my partner and I took a break. "Nice hit, Sora!"

"Thanks," I said with a smile. "I thought that I was going to miss with my backhand."

"It's a great thing you didn't."

Coach blew her whistle and our team captain stood near her. He marked a few things on his clipboard and turned to the rest of us. "A sprint straight to the locker rooms. That's the run. Those that don't sprint will be helping me clean with the team laundry. On your marks? Go!"

I used every last ounce of energy to run towards the girls' locker room. It was worth it because there were a lot of players on the team and no one liked getting stuck with laundry. Captain always did it, but he never minded it. It was his job to make sure everything was in order.

I quickly changed and a few of my friends were talking about how they were going to spend the rest of their Saturday.

"There's an all day sale at the mall. I think it's for the Christmas rush. It's only eight, but some stores should be open. How about you, Sora?"

I turned to face one of my team members. "I'm not sure. I think I might go see if Yamato is busy."

"You're so lucky to be dating him! I can't wait to see the school's winter concert. He really is performing?"

I nodded my head and grabbed my bag. "Yeah. I'll see you all later!"

I walked out of the locker rooms and turned the corner. Something near the trees caught my eye and I turned. An elementary school student was walking down the street towards the school gate.

I couldn't help but notice that it looked like he was marching. There was certainty in each step and it reminded me of Taichi before Agumon dark digivolved for the first time.

I managed to get to the school gates at the same time he passed. I managed to examine him a bit closer.

His white collared shirt was neatly ironed and tucked into his black work pants. His hands were in his pockets but his thumbs were left out. A glimpse told me that he was wearing black tipless work gloves. His grey tennis shoes never scraped along the floor as he walked with the same certainty I had seen earlier. I didn't dare look at his face because I didn't want to start a problem with him.

We passed each other quietly and he paused after a second.

"Takenouchi?" He turned slightly to face me. I looked at him carefully and saw him smirk before turning away. "Interesting. It's nice to see you again, Love. I guess I'll see you again later." He chuckled softly. "I mean if things go according to plan." He continued on his way down the street and left me trying to think about who he was.

He had called me by my Crest. I wanted to run after him, but I didn't know where he went off to. The best place for me to go would be home then the Digital World. Maybe Biyomon could remind me.

* * *

~MIMI~

Miyako and I left the store and looked around the mall. I smiled at my young friend as she looked over her list. "We already got something for Taichi, Sora, and Daisuke. What do you think we should get Ken for Christmas?"

"Miyako, I don't think I can help you with him. I think it's better for you to come up with a gift from yourself."

She blushed. "Really?"

I nodded and encouraged her. "You have to be sincere to yourself. You like him, don't you?" She nodded slightly. "Then trust in yourself! Sora and I will be there to help you!"

She smiled. "You're right! I'll figure it out." She went back over the list of Digidestined. "Koushiro said he wanted a new memory drive. Iori doesn't want much, but his grandfather told me he needed a new kendo helmet."

I thought about the others. "Jou could use with a new medical book. Yamato would probably be hard to shop for."

"Takeru told me he needed new guitar strings."

I smirked as I finished off our shopping list. "That means something for Takeru and Hikari. What should we get them?"

"One present for them both? I guess it would mean that Takeru would just let Hikari keep it."

"He's such a gentleman when it comes to her." The two of us laughed.

We went into a few more stores and managed to get almost everything. Miyako looked through the window displays. "What would fit them?"

"How about a set of matching necklaces? Like their Crests? That way they could both have one." I offered the thought and began to think about a design.

"That sounds great, but how would we get one?" She walked out of the mall and I checked to make sure the two bags I held were okay.

As I did so, I bumped into someone. "Sorry! I wasn't watching where I was going."

"It's alright. Might I make a suggestion to your dilemma though?" The boy I bumped into helped me to my feet and looked at the bags. He checked his pockets and snapped his fingers. "Here it is." He handed me a slip of paper and Miyako looked over my shoulder.

"That looks so beautiful! But it looks like the star from the Crest of Light rising over the mountain from the Crest of Hope." Her clueless tone made me think it was right for me to be on guard.

"Where did you get this?" I looked up at the person who handed it to me. I blinked when I realized he disappeared. "That was odd."

Miyako looked around but couldn't find him. "Who was he?"

I frowned. "Maybe we should go to the Digital World to find out."

Miyako nodded. "Let's drop these off at my apartment first. Hopefully Takeru and Iori won't notice anything if they see us."

I smiled. "We'll just say that these are clothes."

"We have a sports bag, Mimi."

"I'll think of something," I reassured her.

* * *

~JOU~

I sat in the café reading the newspaper. Shuu handed me my cup of hot chocolate and smiled. "Is there anything interesting in the news?"

I shook my head and handed the paper to him. "Not today. Are your studies going well?"

He smirked at me. "When are you interested in what I do? I should be the one asking you, Doctor Kido."

I felt my face burn as I put my drink down. "Don't call me that."

"It's nothing to be worried about. You want to be a doctor while I want to be a researcher. They're dreams that are possible only if we try."

I nodded solemnly. "I guess we should get back home." I picked up my cup and took a small sip.

"You need to relax more, little brother. A stressed doctor is not as reliable as a calm one." He winked at me. "You should know more about that though."

I smiled when I realized he was talking about my Crest. "Are you jealous?"

"Not really. I didn't have to carry such a large burden. I'm just jealous you got to have an adventure." He finished his drink and threw away his cup. "Before we leave, I'll just use the restroom. Why not visit the bookstore downstairs?"

I nodded in response. I hastily downed the now-warm hot chocolate. I climbed down the stairs and wandered around the shelves. There was a large selection to choose from and I decided to look for a medical fiction story.

I stared at the spines and fingered them carefully. The titles were all very interesting. I pulled one out and saw that someone else was in the aisle. I glanced at him and saw that he had a pair of black ski goggles dangling from his neck. There was a red baseball cap strapped to his brown leather belt.

Only one word came to my mind and I didn't realize that I said it aloud. "Ixen?"

He turned to look at me. He blinked his grey eyes at me. "Kido? I thought that was you sitting near the window." He smirked and pulled out a book to give to me. "Have a nice day. I expect you to go to the Digital World later."

I was still flabbergasted at seeing the young boy. "You're still alive?"

He was at the end of the aisle now. "Of course I am. I was gone for years, not dead." He waved back at me and I rolled my eyes.

I wanted to send a message to the rest of the Digidestined, but I decided against it. He would have a story to tell us later. If I said anything, I would ruin it. Then I would be the same old stick-in-the-mud I was back then.

"Jou! Are you ready?"

I turned to face Shuu. "Almost. Let me just buy this book." I glanced at the cover and realized it was a horror novel. I might as well read it to see if it's good.

* * *

~KOUSHIRO~

Iori and I lightly chuckled as Mr. Fujiyama snored from his desk. He was supposed to be monitoring the computer lab, but he had gotten bored of the two of us Digidestined after an hour.

Iori glanced at his screen again. "I don't really see anything wrong, Koushiro."

I nodded in agreement. "But something isn't right. There's still that possibility, Iori. There's been a lot of movement on File Island. Leomon managed to send me a message about everyone acting oddly."

"Do you think we should stop?"

I didn't answer because I heard footsteps outside the halls. They were steady and rhythmic. The door to the computer lab opened and I saw someone with messy reddish-black hair stick his head in. "Is anyone here? Izumi? Why is it that I keep seeing a Digidestined everywhere I think those two are supposed to be?"

Iori gave him a questioning glance. "How do you know about the Digidestined?"

I looked between the two and judged the stranger to be about Takeru and Hikari's age. "Can I help you?"

He blinked at me. "Can you tell me what school this is?"

"Odaiba Elementary. This is the computer lab," I replied. "Who are you looking for?"

"You'll see, Izumi. I'll see you two later." He sighed and turned around. "I keep getting lost," he muttered as he closed the door.

I sighed. "Can that really be him?" I asked myself.

"Who?" Iori turned back to look at his screen.

"You'll see soon enough, Iori. I'll be certain about my thoughts when we get to the Digital World."

"There's a timer saying the gate will open at noon."

"Let's spend the time trying to understand what is going on." I sat back in my chair and scrolled through the screenshots.

"Right."

* * *

~YAMATO~

I rubbed my eyes trying to figure out why I was still at the elementary school. It was almost ten and any normal Saturday would have found me still asleep.

"Ishida, is the sound working okay?"

I nodded for the fiftieth time. "I think that's that. The concert should run smoothly this week."

"I hope so. Your band attracted a lot of attention. A lot of people are intended to come."

I nodded again. "I'll see you later then."

The AV student smiled at me and left. I sighed in relief and decided to visit the cafeteria. I found a vending machine and bought some juice. I swallowed half of it in one gulp before returning to the auditorium. I paused when I had the door cracked slightly open.

Someone was playing the piano that was on stage. It was a soothing melody and I tried to remember where it was I heard it before. It was uplifting and composed as a minor. I felt some type of energy coming from the melody as I entered the room.

The pianist definitely knew what he was doing because each note rebounded off the walls of the room. I approached the stage carefully so I didn't disturb him.

He finished the main part of the song and continued on with a small segment that was to be his finale. He chuckled as he turned to face me. "Remember that melody, Ishida? Music has always been your strong point."

"I've forgotten where I heard it before. Sorry."

"It's alright. I can't believe you are also here. I don't think you know that Izumi is in the computer lab with Hida." He shook his head as he jumped off stage. "Well, I'm off to the park to see three more people. Then off to see the final two that I am most interested in. I wonder if he looks more like you though." He chuckled. "Maybe not. He doesn't care about that. Although from what Tachikawa said, I figure he's pretty much a mixture of you, Kamiya, Kido, and Izumi. It's to impress her after all." He was already halfway across the hall. He continued to speak to himself. "Then there's her to consider. I'm sure she couldn't have changed much. A bit less innocent, but then again, what else do I expect when everyone has aged so much? It's not like I didn't change."

I bolted after him. "Hey! Wait! What are you talking about?"

He turned around before closing the auditorium doors. "Like I said, Izumi is in the computer lab."

I finally reached the door, but I couldn't figure out which direction he went. There were three choices and I knew he couldn't have gone up. Down towards the cafeteria or to the courtyard? I decided to just go up to visit the computer lab. With any luck, Koushiro would still be there with Iori.

* * *

~TAICHI~

I scored as I kicked the ball into the goal. I jumped up in triumph. Daisuke cheered as he and Ken ran back towards the middle of the field. "Keep it up, Taichi!"

The three of us decided to sit out to catch our breaths. I took a sip of water before splashing some over my face. "Not bad for a Saturday morning, guys."

Ken agreed. "If we keep this up, we'll make the team in no time, Daisuke."

Daisuke smirked at his best friend. "Just don't think I'll let you get the spotlight." He put a hand on the goggles I gave him. "On these goggles, I'll try my best to give it my all!"

I laughed at him. "Don't let them go to your head. I gave them to you because your old pair broke and I had no use for them anymore. Besides, it's not the goggles that make you a leader. It's how you carry yourself."

"Like that boy over there?" Ken pointed towards a boy that was walking on the sidewalk slowly.

Daisuke and I turned our heads and saw that he was watching the game as he walked by. He had something dark covering his face as he came from the direction of the elementary school.

"Did he just move to Odaiba?" I asked. "He looks like he should be in your grade."

Daisuke shook his head. "I've never seen him before. He probably did just move in." He immediately stood up. "I'll go check!"

He jogged around the soccer field and the boy paused as he noticed the goggle-head approach him. He pointed towards Daisuke's goggles and it resulted with my clone laughing.

I turned my attention back towards the game. Ken kept an eye on Daisuke and I saw a player make a hard kick to the ball. My eyes went wide when I saw that it was headed towards the new kid and Daisuke.

What happened was completely the opposite of what I expected. The boy took a few steps forward and managed to complete a reverse roundhouse kick with his left leg. The ball flew to the other side of the field. Everyone on the field applauded the feat. Daisuke looked at him amazed, shocked, and thankful.

Ken and I immediately ran towards them to see if they were okay. "Daisuke! Are you alright?" I asked.

He numbly nodded his head. "How did you do that?"

The boy shrugged as he scratched his head in embarrassment. "It was purely out of instinct. I couldn't do a forward roundhouse kick because you were on my right. It wasn't really special since I was slightly off balance."

I had seen that kick before and that same explanation tweaked a nerve in my memory. "Do you play soccer?"

He smirked at me. "Come on, Taichi. Don't tell me you forgot my favorite sport. You can always ask Agumon if you've forgotten. Sora's going to ask Biyomon. Seriously, I think only Kido and Izumi recognized me. I know for certain that those two will know exactly who I am." I knew he wasn't referring to Daisuke and Ken, but of some others that were close to us. A beeping came from his pocket and he took out a small device that resembled a phone. "Time is ticking. That means that it's time to visit the last two most important players in this game." I think I saw a spark glow from behind the black ski goggles he had on. He put a red baseball cap on backwards and waved. "Heads up!"

The three of us turned just in time to see the ball land near us. I turned back around and called out for the boy. "Ixen!" I blinked when he disappeared.

Daisuke looked at me oddly after he threw the soccer ball back into the field. "Taichi, I never told you his name."

Ken blinked a few times. "What did he talk to you about, Daisuke?"

He smiled brightly. "He thought my goggles looked cool."

I laughed nervously. "Isn't that what Takeru said to you when you first met him?"

Daisuke thought back and nodded. "That's right. Then I found out that he was very close to Hikari. Is that boy close to you?"

Ken tried to figure out an explanation. "He knows about the digimon. We'll probably have to visit it later on today."

I agreed and tried my best to answer Daisuke. "He's a relative. It figures he said that to you. He likes to mess with peoples' heads. Especially those that tick him off or extremely close to him."

Daisuke became even more confused. "But I just met him. Why would he mess with my head?"

"We probably are close to him," Ken stated. "We just don't really know it."

* * *

~IXEN~

Well, my day could have started off better. Still, I'm at least glad that probably three people can sort of tell who I am. Even if I have been absent for so long. I travelled all over the Digital World just so I could become a better version of me. I come back and find that a lot has changed. Has it really been almost four years?

Things were definitely different. From the moment I entered the apartment building that the Kamiya's were living in, I knew I had to be prepared for big change. My aunt had recognized me when she saw my grey eyes and dark red hair. Of course she did; I was like another son to her.

Uncle laughed at how tall I had grown. I saw the more recent pictures of Hikari and told him that I was still only a bit taller than her in comparison. His excuse? "I see Hikari everyday so I don't notice the difference from when she was younger and now. You, on the other hand, haven't visited in years. Of course I have to point it out."

Fair enough point. I just didn't have enough time to spend here. Right now, I'm strictly here because I have to complete something. I gripped my beeping D-Pack and willed it to shut up.

I took it out of my pocket and pressed a few buttons on the stupid machine to stop the annoying beeps. I held it in my hand and marveled its structure. Building it from scratch was like defeating a grizzly bear with only a knife. It's difficult, but possible.

Each custom design was to help me with anything I did in the Digital World. Of course, which version of the world was key because there were just too many parallel worlds to follow. It was very important to me and losing it was not an option.

My digivice was styled like a flip-open cell phone. Once opened, there were more buttons to help me utilize whatever I needed. Mainly, the main functions of the D-3 were there to help me. All the power of the original digivice was embedded into my tiny machine. An extra component I added was a card and data scanner. The card scanner was located at the right of the D-Pack and used only if the machine was flipped closed. The data scanner was located at the top. These are extremely important, but I have no use for it here. At least, I don't think so.

I flipped the screen open and checked to see where I would go next. Two red dots were situated ahead of me and I decided to just appear before them plain. No games. Just a straightforward encounter that will test if I still meant anything to this place.

I slid down my goggles and took off my baseball cap. I secured my cap to my belt with a hook and looked around me. I slipped my gold and grey D-Pack into my pocket and moved around the lobby. I glanced at the wall clock and sighed. It was almost eleven and I was taking too many detours.

"Where is your D-Terminal, Miyako?"

"It's upstairs. Should we see if Takeru is home? He might be able to help us."

I froze and stood near the ficus that was near the corner. I was incredulous. It took them about two hours to get from the mall and back? They probably had a lot to do. Like shopping for Ichijouji? Oh well, I better get a move on.

I snuck towards the stairs and glanced at the elevator. They were taking it up and I knew what I had to do. Each floor I would pass would mean pressing the elevator call button.

I checked to make sure my shoe were securely on. I took a deep breath and sprinted up the flights of stairs. Please let my training pay off!

I managed to get to the sixth floor with no problem. They had gone off at the fifth floor. I was glad to finally be left alone to gather my thoughts. This was going to be nerve-wracking and painful. If they didn't know who I was, I'd have to leave.

_Hikari will be glad to see you again, Ixen._ Her mother told me. _She's not here right now. She's spending the night at her friend's house. I'm not sure if you know her though. Her name is Miyako Inoue._

Of course I knew who she was. I've been studying the new Digidestined to see if they were as reliable as the older ones. _How about Taichi?_ I asked.

_He's spending the night with his soccer club. They're at the park right now._ Uncle had answered cheerfully. _And speaking of sports, I think you should try out for the elementary tennis team._

_Sorry, but I've already enrolled myself into the middle school. I'll be in the third year._

_Taichi is in that year, too. I'm sure he'll be fine with having you in the class. Although, you should be in Hikari's year. It's late, you should get some sleep. The guest room is yours for as long as you stay._

I shook my head to clear my mind. Focus! You have to be prepared to what lies behind this door. My D-Pack began to vibrate and I took it out.

I glanced at the cover's screen and sighed. I pressed a side button to confirm that I had read the message. Time was running out and I had to see them now.

I put my D-Pack away and opened the door. It wasn't locked and the two I was dying to see looked up at me. I gulped and waited for them to respond. I stared at them and realized that they hadn't changed much. I had expected a lot to be different.

Takeru stood from his seat. He stuttered. "I-In-Infinity?" He walked around me and checked to see if he was right. "It _is_ you!"

Hikari wanted to make sure his confirmation was correct. "Are you sure, Takeru?"

I held up my hands. "Hope is right. It's me, Light."

"Ixen!" She hugged me tightly and Takeru laughed.

"It's great to see you again. What brings you back?"

I closed the front door and scratched the back of my head. "Just a few things I have to do. It'll take a while depending on how bad the damage is, but it's great to see you two."

I walked over the table and stared at their textbooks. Takeru went into the kitchen to get me a drink. "No soda, Ixen?"

"Don't tempt me," I replied. I wasn't allowed to have caffeinated soda and he knew that.

"He's just teasing you, Ixen."

Takeru handed me a can of chrysanthemum tea. "I still remember all of your funny quirks."

I opened the can and took a sip. "Thanks, Takeru. I knew you two wouldn't fail me. The others are a bit disappointing though." I smirked at them.

Hikari lightly punched my arm. "It's your own fault for never coming back."

I shrugged and recycled the can. I took out my D-Pack and checked the time. "Let's get going. I have to set up something for when they come to the Digital World. Want to come with me?" My head was down and I tried my best to glance up at them without them noticing.

Takeru was writing down an answer to a math problem. "What are you planning?"

"Gennai wants a barbecue. The digimon are already on it."

Hikari looked at Takeru. "Let's go, Takeru. We're pretty much done with our assignments."

He smiled as he turned on his computer. "I definitely want to see if you're any different, Ixen."

I smirked at them both. "I expect nothing less." I tightened the Velcro straps on my gloves. I unstrapped my cap and put it on. I checked my D-Terminal and sent a message to Gennai. "Ready?" I checked to see if they had their D-3's ready. I pulled out my D-Pack and Takeru raised his eyebrow at me.

The gold design captivated him. "Do you really have to combine gold with grey?"

I smirked at him. "Grey is my color. The gold is there because Gennai thought it would fit me better." I held up my digivice and activated the portal. "Digi-port, open!"

* * *

~TAKERU~

I safely landed on my feet and looked around. We were on a beach and I recognized it to lead to Gennai's underwater house. I laughed to myself because Gennai had a lot of houses to stay in.

"Hikari?" I looked around for her to check if she was okay.

I saw her and her cousin, looking around the beach. I ran towards them and Ixen waved at me. "Not what I was looking for, but you'll do." He climbed up a nearby tree and stood on a branch. "Gennai! Cynomon?" He turned his baseball cap backwards and put on his goggles. "No way!" He scrambled down and straightened up. "The digimon are coming!"

I turned around and felt Patamon tackle into me. I laughed as he turned around and followed the rest of the group as they tackled into Ixen. Hikari laughed with me as Ixen was trying to get untangled from the mess.

Veemon, Hawkmon, Armadillomon, and Wormmon caught up to them. Veemon scratched his head and laughed. "What's going on?"

Agumon and the rest backed away from the boy to give him some space. "The Digital World's greatest adventurer has returned!"

Ixen managed to stand up and was dusting himself off. "Not sure about the greatest. It's more like the boldest, Agumon."

Gatomon tackled into him again. "That's for what you did last time, Ixen."

Ixen chuckled and looked at our digimon. "Let's get started. At noon, everyone else is coming and we have lots do get done before then." He took charge and led them down towards the beach. "Agumon! You're in charge of making a fire. Gomamon, take Palmon with you to get fish. Patamon and Gatomon, take Hikari and Takeru to grab some fruit in the forest. Biyomon, I need you to go around and invite some more digimon here. Stay behind for a moment because I need to give you something to make it easier on you. Gabumon and Tentomon, grab firewood."

Hawkmon raised a wing to get his attention. "What about us?"

"I have something special for you four." He took off his backpack and stared at the site. "For now, let's get a few tables set up."

Hikari and I smiled at each other. I turned to him. "Don't do anything rash, Ixen."

He smirked at me and gave me a thumb up. "I'll try!"

We headed into the forest and Patamon climbed onto my head. "Takeru, this is great! Ixen finally returned from those other worlds."

Gatomon climbed up a tree and threw down some fruit for us to catch. "But he never appears unless something important is up. Hikari, don't you still message him from time to time?"

My friend took out her D-Terminal and I had to make sure the fruit weren't going to be bruised as they rained down on us. "Hikari, can you please step away from this area?" She walked away blindly and I guided her carefully.

She smiled kindly at me. "Thanks, Takeru." She went through her message boxes. "He never said anything about coming back. Taichi got a message last weekend from him and he told us how he was done with repairing his digivice."

I looked at her questioningly. "How did it break?"

"He was attacked while out on a training session. Too much energy overrode the systems and it fizzed out on him. That was the source of Koushiro's stress a few months ago."

I remember. Koushiro had spent all of his free time with Ken in the computer lab trying to analyze the workings of the digivices. He had used an x-ray camera on Ken's D-3 and his own digivice.

"I guess there's a problem here that might regard that," I mused.

Patamon and Gatomon finished with the trees in this area so they came down. Patamon happily smiled at us. "The others are starting to arrive!"

I carried a lot of the fruit we found. Hikari smiled at me as she carried her share. It was a lot less than what I was carrying. "Are you sure you don't need me to take some from you, Takeru?"

"I'm fine. Thanks though."

Ixen had come to look for us and he snickered at me. "Hey, Takeru, could you be anymore chivalrous?"

My face went red. Hikari smiled at me to show me that it was okay. I turned back to Ixen as he carried both our digimon. Patamon didn't mind, but Gatomon seemed uncertain. She looked up at him and frowned. "Where's Cynomon?"

Ixen smirked. "You'll see the rascal soon. He's just working on something with Gennai. I need him all set for what I have planned for those four."

* * *

~HIKARI~

Ixen had told us an outline of what he went through. He's been in different places for the past few years. Right now, he's trying to make sure that there was no damage done while his digivice was out of commission. "It's important because I think it lost some data when I finally got it running again. Plus, Cynomon has been restless and keeps telling me something is missing."

We got back to the beach and he was greeted by the rest of our friends. Taichi put him in a headlock and gave him an amused glare. "Why didn't you tell us that you were coming back?"

Yamato crossed his arms. "Taichi, let go of your cousin. Watching you do that to him makes me imagine him as Takeru."

Mimi laughed at Ixen's face when he heard that comment. "We know you and Takeru are complete opposites, but you two are the same sometimes."

"No we're not!" The blonde cried. "Ixen is too varied."

Ixen agreed. "Takeru is too optimistic, shy, quiet, kind, polite, brooding…" He began to list everything he found to be Takeru's biggest faults yet necessary to be him. "And most importantly, he's too much _not_ like me that he _is_ like me. I don't understand that at all!"

Sora ruffled his messy hair. "You're still the same critical little boy, Ixen."

Jou nodded his head. "But you're a bit different. More open, I guess."

Koushiro smiled at Ixen. "How's your D-Pack?"

Ixen snapped his fingers and took out the machine. "Thanks for the information, Koushiro. I managed to reroute the wires to get it to work normally."

The newer Digidestined came to stand by Takeru and me. Daisuke crossed his arms. "Hikari, he's your cousin?"

I nodded and that resulted in Miyako barraging the two of us veterans with questions. "Why have we never heard of him before? Is he a Digidestined? What's that D-Pack for?"

Ixen turned around to give us a smile. It was fake and Takeru and I knew it. It always had to get under our skin because we never knew what was going to happen next. My cousin had a lot of problems to hide if he smiled like that.

"I like to keep my matters to myself, Miyako. Plus, my cousins worry too much, so I don't tell them much. You'll see me using the D-Pack soon enough." That smug smile he was wearing began to fade when he smelled something burning. "Agumon! I told you to watch the flames!" He went back to the fire pit to help salvage the burning fish.

Iori stared at him. "That wasn't a smile, was it?"

Takeru looked at his partner. "You noticed, Iori? Don't think too much about it. Ixen doesn't like to act on his emotions. You'll never see him truly smile unless you're extremely lucky. Still, it'd be better if he didn't pretend to smile like that."

Ken smiled. "We might as well have fun for now. He seems nice."

Takeru and I laughed. I explained to the genius. "Don't say that to Ixen. He doesn't think so and will actually prove that he's not nice. He does nice things, but he says it's because he's meant to serve others. He gives a lot without realizing it."

Takeru nodded. "He'll even help his enemies if it means his own well-being is on the line."

Daisuke chuckled. "Like you, Takeru."

Yamato came over to take the fruit from his younger brother. "Takeru! Don't just stand there! Gennai just arrived with some hamburgers. We need the fruit too!"

Takeru stood up straight. "Right! I'll be there to help."

Ixen set up a large cooking rock and was scolding Agumon. He looked up at us and smiled. "Veemon! Grab the others! We'll eat then I'll go on with my special event."

I helped Sora with skewering the fruit. I smiled when Taichi put Ixen in a headlock again. Sora rolled her eyes as she heard Taichi reprimanding our younger cousin. "What is the matter with you? You could have given us a heads up!"

"I did when I told you about that soccer ball," Ixen joked. He managed to get out of his grip and saw the fruit. "Cynomon!" He crossed his arms and put on a stern face. "What are you doing in there?"

He immediately came over and picked up a baby mouse that I had overlooked. "Cyno!" The small mouse lifted its light blue head and tapped on Ixen's face. The Fresh digimon buried himself into Ixen's chest and sneezed. Fire erupted from his body and Ixen put the flames out.

"Where was he the whole time, Ixen?" I asked.

"He was with Gennai. Helping him in the real world when they were shopping for the food." He lifted his baby partner up and leveled their faces.

Cynomon sort of squealed and laughed at Ixen. "Cyno?"

"I'm fine. Just don't get into trouble." Ixen bent down and took the fruit kebab I was working on. "Thanks, Hikari." He gave a small piece to his partner. He put the tiny mouse onto his hat and winked at me. "Let's go check on the food, Cynomon."

We finally began to eat and Ixen was feeding his baby digimon. Takeru and I made fun of him for being so fatherly. Takeru chuckled lightly as he drank his soda. "You'd make a great dad, Ixen."

"You're one to talk. Didn't you feed Poyomon by hand when he was hatched?"

Takeru went red and the two of them laughed. They really were alike despite their friendly arguments. I smiled at them. "Little TK feeding Poyomon? That's cute."

Taichi smirked at the three of us. "It's great to see the three of you having fun." He gave Ixen a stern look. "They're all ready. Are you?"

Ixen smirked back at him. "Always. Cynomon, can you digivolve?"

His digimon ignored him and wandered down the table to find something else to eat. Ixen rolled his eyes and gave him some more fruit. Cynomon began to glow brightly and change into his In-Training form.

A small, red-orange chick stood where the tiny mouse was. Miyako came over to see what was taking Ixen so long. She began to coddle the small digimon. "Ixen, he's so adorable! Are you sure he's going to be strong enough to fight?"

Ixen raised an eyebrow at her. "Don't underestimate Torchmon. We've been through tougher situations."

Torchmon agreed and flapped his small wings. "I've got enough power to take down Gatomon."

Gatomon looked up from her fish. "Don't push it, Torchmon. I could take you on anytime."

Ixen smirked at her. "It just so happens that I want to test your power, too. Yours and Patamon's." He stood up and took out his D-Pack. "And if you want, I'll have Torchmon digivolve after this test."

Torchmon was perched on Ixen's head. He leaned forward to get his partner's attention. "Are you sure I can?"

"You have to be able to. If not, I'll tell them what's up," Ixen said. He glanced at Koushiro who had his laptop out and ready.

Ken, Miyako, Iori, and Daisuke stood across from Ixen. Their digimon were lined up and ready to attack. Ixen held his D-Pack in his left hand. His right hand was at his waist and I saw a case strapped to his belt. He opened it and I saw a deck of cards in it.

Ixen flexed his fingers and Torchmon jumped off his head. Ixen breathed in deeply and closed his eyes. "I'm not sure if these will work here, partner. If not, just fight until you reach your limit."

"Understood, Ixen." Torchmon's brown eyes burned with anticipation.

Ixen measured up the four Rookies. "Anything goes! Digivolve if you want, but Torchmon and I won't give up!"

Daisuke looked at him as if he were crazy. "What's the point of this?"

"It'll take a lot more than being friendly to prove that you four are fit to call yourselves Digidestined." Ixen held out his left hand and D-Pack. He intently looked at his partner. "Don't expect this to be an easy battle because there are four of you."


	2. Tests and Cards

Notes: I finally have a good plot. It's not as random as my first version. This could be sort of like a sequel to Dark Hope. I kind of put a Digimon Tamer style to Ixen because I wanted to make Ixen really versatile. Some of the cards are actually from Digimon Battle.

* * *

~IXEN~

"It'll take a lot more than being friendly to prove that you four are fit to call yourselves Digidestined." I held out my left hand and D-Pack. I intently looked at my partner. "Don't expect this to be an easy battle because there are four of you."

Koushiro looked back and forth between us and our opponents. "Rules are to render the other useless. Either knock out the digimon or restrain the partner. You four can digivolve however you like." He turned his head towards me. "You can use whatever you can to defend or attack."

I nodded sharply. "Torchmon! Go!"

Torchmon jumped up and attacked. "Flame Body!" Flames surrounded him as he rammed himself into Wormmon.

I flexed my right hand and kept it ready at my card case. "Don't back down!"

Miyako quickly yelled. "Digi-Armor Energize!"

"Hawkmon armor digivolve to…"

"Shurimon, the samurai of sincerity!" The leafed ninja went behind my partner. "Shooting Star!"

"Jump!" I took out a card and sliced it through the reader. "Card Slash! White Wing!" Torchmon spread his short wings and glided safely. I picked another card and sliced it through. "Etemon: Love Serenade!" I winced as the sharp notes pierced the air.

The weakened digimon surrounded Torchmon. Daisuke was still recovering from the shock and I noticed that my partner was down. The bird turned towards me and charged Veemon. "Flame Body!" It was weaker than before.

My eyes widened and I reshuffled my deck of cards. I blindly felt through them and took out five cards. "You're too weak to use some of our cards. Just hang back a while!"

Veemon stood up and shook off the damage. "Daisuke!"

"Digi-Armor Energize!"

"Veemon armor digivolve to…"

"Flamedramon, the flames of courage! Fire Rocket!"

"Flame Body!" Both digimon charged at each other and I held my breath as Torchmon flew towards me.

I caught him and tried to think of a plan. I chose one of the five cards in my hand and smirked at him. "Evade and destroy, Torchmon." I slipped three cards in between my fingers and sliced them all one at a time. "Invisibility! Sharp Claws! Acid Bubbles!"

Torchmon disappeared and reappeared near Flamedramon. He scratched the larger digimon and spat the bubbles in his face. Flamedramon backed away, blinded.

Shurimon caught up with my digimon, but Torchmon had disappeared again. Iori knew he had to counter it. "Digi-Armor Energize!"

"Armadillomon armor digivolve to…"

"Digmon, the drill of knowledge! Big Crack!" The earth came up and Torchmon flew up.

"Sticky Net!" Wormmon managed to stick my partner to a tree.

Torchmon struggled and I took out another hand of usable cards. I couldn't use anything that could cut. His beak was the only thing that could break through, but I didn't draw anything that would help. I decided to actually use myself to defend my partner.

I ran towards the approaching Shurimon. I tackled into him and he fell over. I drew a card randomly and smiled. I would use this later on as a last resort. I quickly ran to my partner and freed him from the nets. Wormmon had digivolved and he was quickly coming towards us with Flamedramon.

I took out another card and activated it. "Card Slash! DemiVeemon: Hop Tackle!" Torchmon launched himself at Flamedramon, but was easily captured.

Iori, Miyako, Ken, and Daisuke looked confident. I looked at them and knew that they weren't going to fall so easily. Torchmon looked at me and nodded his head. "Are we going to finish this?"

I nodded and held that last card in between my thumb and index finger. My hand had formed an L and the card stared at me. I gripped the card securely and had raised my D-Pack over my head. "Card Slash!" My hand brought the digivice down and my right hand slid it into the reader. "Omnimon: Omega Blast!"

An intense beeping came from my D-Terminal and D-Pack. I was blown back by the shockwave and I saw that everyone was on the ground. The rest of the Digidestined that were watching took shelter. Takeru and Hikari were first to check out the damage.

The two ran towards me and I tried to lift my arm. I leaned back against the tree and winced as the motion caused a pain in my stomach. Hikari picked up Torchmon and Takeru carried me to my feet. "Are you okay?"

I looked at the other digimon. Daisuke carried DemiVeemon and smiled calmly to his partner. "You did great! Are you badly hurt?"

Ken held Minomon carefully. "You should rest. That blast must have been extremely powerful."

"Poromon, it's over. Just relax. You're going to hurt yourself!" Miyako stopped her partner from struggling.

Iori petted his In-Training partner. "I'll get you something to eat, okay?"

I smiled at them. Takeru moved my arm and I winced. "Watch it!" I tried to stand on my own but fell back. Takeru held me up.

Hikari frowned at me. "Torchmon can't move much too."

My small digimon tried to move a wing. "It hurts when I try, Ixen."

I clenched my right hand and let out an uneasy breath. "I should have just used a Champion Card. You weren't ready to use a Mega Card yet."

Takeru let me drop. I rolled forward on my back to stop myself from falling. I winced as each muscle screamed in pain. Takeru helped me up again and glared at me. "You deserved that."

Taichi and Yamato came over and inspected me. Taichi shook his head. "You'd better head into Gennai's house."

I nodded painfully. "Can you give my D-Pack to Gennai?"

Taichi unclipped it from my belt and walked away. Yamato crossed his arms. "I'll get Koushiro and Jou to tell us the damage."

Daisuke and the three others looked at me expectantly. "Are you okay?"

"Does it look like I'm okay? It hurts for me to move and Takeru dropped me on purpose! It feels like sunburn too." I tried to take back my arm from the blonde. "Let go!"

Hikari lightly poked my cheek and I yelped. "Just relax. We'll have you down in a moment."

Daisuke helped Takeru hold me up. "You're extremely light."

Takeru smiled at him. "He eats a lot though. He eats more than Agumon. But if you compare him with Torchmon, the little guy can eat more than all of our digimon combined!"

I painstakingly lifted my hand to whack him on the back of his head. It hurt me way more than it hurt him. He laughed at me and finally helped me onto the couch.

"Thanks, Takeru," I mumbled. I looked around Gennai's house and saw that he was speaking with Ken and Koushiro.

Koushiro nodded and was handed my D-Pack. Sora came over to me and handed me Koushiro's laptop. I winced as the weight pressed onto me. "The video is ready for you."

I nodded and went over the drill. I looked at each detail carefully. "Sora, do you know why I lost?"

She frowned at me. "I'm not the one you're testing, Ixen. But if you want to know my opinion, you lost because you forgot to limit yourself."

"Still as analytical as ever. Do you know why I'm slightly paralyzed?"

She poked me in the cheek like Hikari did. She smiled at my scowl. "You messed up."

Mimi saw me as I tried to strangle the older girl. "Ixen, is anything the matter?"

I stopped and checked to see if my arm was still hurting. It was sore, but I could live with that. "Do you think I messed up?"

"Yes. You used an Ultimate Card and a Mega Card. What made you think that you'd come out unhurt?" Mimi squeezed my shoulder.

I inhaled sharply. "Can you all not touch me? It's excruciating!" I let out a breath. I felt Torchmon jump onto my head and my neck stung. "Torchmon!" I let him off since he couldn't move a lot anyways.

Jou and Koushiro came to check on us. Koushiro carefully picked up my partner and explained to me what was wrong. "Your partner is going to be fine. He recovers faster than you and already, he can move on his own."

Jou checked my injury and had me move different parts of my body. He gave me some cool cream and it eased the burning I felt whenever someone poked me. "You'll be fine by the end of the afternoon. Don't make things any worse until then."

"Thanks, Jou." I sat up in the couch and turned to Koushiro. "Is my D-Pack alright?"

"I just fixed a few wires. Ken also added a program into it to act as a surge protector. It won't be overloaded again, but it sets a limit of power for you to use. That means your cards are all capped to one level higher than Torchmon is."

I nodded and massaged my neck. "That makes sense." I looked down at Torchmon. "You hear that? No more using those Mega, Ultimate, and Champion Cards at this stage."

I stood up carefully and found that I could walk. Torchmon was ready to head out. Jou cautiously stood behind me if I faltered. "What do you think about the newer Digidestined? They pretty much won with you putting yourself out like that."

"Koushiro? What do you both think about Iori?"

Koushiro smiled at me. "He's eager to learn and has a strong sense of what's right."

Jou laughed a little. "He's the perfect sense of both me and Koushiro. At least, I think so. Hikari does too."

Sora and Mimi caught on to what I wanted. "Miyako knows who she cares for and what she needs to do to help them." Sora smiled at me slyly. "Isn't that what you do, Ixen?"

My face slightly burned. "I have no idea what you're getting at." I turned slightly to Mimi. "What do you think?"

She stuck her tongue at me. "She's right about you. You're just either too modest or too ignorant." I gave her one of my blank stares. She laughed at me. "Miyako is outgoing and brave. She's not shy to go out of the way for us." I nodded but frowned as she added, "Isn't that something you should really start doing? We know you want to protect us."

Torchmon rolled his eyes as I sulked. The four older Digidestined laughed at my dismay. At the top of the steps, Taichi and Yamato were waiting for me. I smiled at them. "What would you say if I passed Daisuke?"

Taichi thought about it. "He's a great leader in some sense. He's quick to forgive and won't give up."

Yamato rolled his eyes. "Ixen, all I'm going to say is that he's a mini version of your cousin."

"Good to know." I approached Hikari and Takeru carefully. "I was already going to pass Ken," I stated. "I only wanted to be able to see the DNA digivolving sequence in action. No luck there though."

Takeru's blue eyes flashed with annoyance. "Is there a way for you to be less obnoxious?"

I smiled at him. "You're upset? Why am I not surprised?" I looked at him levelly. "I remember. It's because that would be something you would do if you were in my position."

"I would not handle things like that."

I sat back and smirked. His eyes wavered towards Hikari for a bit. "That one weakness that no one sees amuses me, Takeru. It's sad to see that you'll do nothing about it."

Takeru didn't respond and he saw the others approaching. Hikari glared at me for a moment. "Ixen, what are you trying to say about Takeru?"

I chuckled a bit. She didn't notice a thing. I winced a bit because my ribs were starting to ache. "He can be able to tell you about it yourself."

Takeru breathed calmly. "He's saying that I won't face my fear of the darkness." I hid a smile. He was a great liar and he knew that. No one would ever suspect the innocent Takeru Takaishi of lying to his best friend.

"Takeru, you'd better do something or I will," I warned. When the others were in range, I stood up and Torchmon readjusted himself on my head. "I've made my decision. You four should be strong enough to help with my urgent problem." I looked at Taichi and Hikari. "After that is taken care of, I'll be leaving again."

Taichi frowned at me. "You're never around anymore. Are you that busy?"

I shrugged. "There are other places I have to be. Those places need me more than the Digital World does. Besides, this place has you all."

Gennai stood next to me. "Ixen, we still have the rest of the day. I suggest you take Sora, Koushiro, and Miyako with you."

I nodded. "We're going to be doing a digital run." I smiled at them nervously. "Koushiro, can you tell them about what happened a few months ago?"

The computer genius nodded. "Ixen's D-Pack was overrun by a virus that corrupted everything in it. Torchmon was in his Mega form, but was reduced back into a digi-egg. The D-Pack lost a lot of data and some of it was transferred here."

Yamato scratched his head. "Why is the lost data important?"

I grimaced a little. "The data that was lost is that certain data I was _assigned_." I was hoping someone else other than Takeru understood.

"Where's your Crest?" I looked away from him. "Where is your Crest?" He repeated the question much more slowly and I clenched my fists.

Torchmon saved me the trouble. "That data was _stolen_, Takeru. All memory of me ever being able to digivolve was lost. I have to fulfill each requirement again."

I let out a frustrated sigh. "Everything I ever did was lost to a virus that ambushed me. The weirdest thing was that the digimon _with_ the virus said he worked for Apocalymon. He was going on the 'Protector's' orders." Takeru froze up and I stared at him. "That can't be right. You'd never be as bold as to cross me. Would you?"

Takeru tried to think back. "I never created a virus. That couldn't be me."

Sora had us refocus. "There's no use in worrying about that right now. We have to get Torchmon back into Rookie."

I turned towards Gennai. "My Crest should be waiting for me at that mountain, right?" I couldn't risk letting the Digidestined know the exact place. Mainly it was for Takeru's sake. The man nodded. "Good luck, Ixen."

I nodded at him. I turned towards the group. "We're wasting daylight here. Sora, Koushiro, Miyako, get ready. I need to check something out first."

Taichi took out his digivice. "We'll head back through Gennai's house. Where were you in the real world?"

I nodded towards Takeru and Hikari. "Don't wait for me during dinner if I'm late."

Daisuke crossed his arms. "What is your Crest, Ixen?"

Takeru sighed. "Infinity. It's everything that runs the world. The evil _and_ light." Takeru and I locked eyes for a minute.

"What about you, Takeru?" I smiled at him because I didn't feel like arguing with him. "Aren't you supposed to stay hopeful?"

I looked up at Kabuterimon, Birdramon, and Halsemon. I climbed up with Koushiro and looked down at everyone.

Mimi waved to me. "Don't do anything else that will hurt you."

Jou was cleaning his glasses and he placed them back on his face. "Ixen! I put an extra tube of ointment in your belt pouch. Use it if you're getting sore!"

I nodded. "I'll see you all later."

We took off and I smiled as the air rushed around me. Koushiro smiled as he held onto his laptop. "It's great to be flying again."

Torchmon sat in my lap and fell asleep. "I can't wait to be able to digivolve. Ixen, do you remember what kind of digimon I'll become?"

I sadly looked at him. "Sorry, Torchmon. I don't. It's been too long since you were last Rookie."

* * *

~SORA~

I held onto Birdramon's leg as we neared File Island. "Ixen! We're landing on the beach!"

Ixen stood up carefully. He slipped his goggles on and his baseball cap was turned backwards. He messed with a dial near the side of his goggles. "Head starboard a little. There's a nice spot on that side of the beach."

Miyako went in first and we got to the ground safely. "I don't think I've ever been here before. This is File Island?"

Hawkmon curiously looked around. "Everything is so green!"

Ixen jumped off of the de-digivolving Kabuterimon. "This was the place everyone except Hikari first landed." He took a deep breath in. "This place has a lot of great memories. Too bad I can't remember some of them."

I smiled at him. "We're standing on Shellmon's territory. Do you remember that, Ixen?"

Koushiro wore a small smile. "It was the first time we saw Agumon digivolve."

Ixen walked down the beach and picked up some sand. "Torchmon, how do you feel?"

"I'm better. What are we going to do, Ixen?"

Miyako looked at him curiously. "What are the requirements to digivolve?"

I explained it to her. "In the beginning, we didn't know what to do. We fought a Kuwagamon with only our In-Training digimon. They digivolved to save us. I don't exactly know what that first requirement was."

"The second requirement," Koushiro added, "requires the partner to be in danger. The third requires the activation of their Crest. Ixen's case will be one of the most difficult."

Ixen and Torchmon wandered down the beach. "Are you all coming or what? I don't plan on staying on Coela Beach!"

His goggles reflected the sunlight and I had to cover my eyes. "Ixen! Are we going into the forest?"

Biyomon jumped up. "There needs to be something we can do in there!"

Tentomon raised one of his claws. "Why don't we find Kuwagamon and go from there?"

Koushiro looked at his partner nervously. "Won't that be dangerous?"

Ixen ran back towards us. "Why not just wander around in the forest like Sora suggested? We'll fight whatever threatens us."

The eight of us made our way into the forest. Miyako looked all around her. "This place is so pretty! The jungle trees are dense though. How do you manage to not get lost?"

Ixen pointed at the river nearby. "They had landed in the forest and followed that river towards the beach. They fell from a cliff. Thankfully, Gomamon saved them." Ixen paused. "The Gears. There was something about that—" A gust of air above us cut him off. "Torchmon! What is it?"

His digimon jumped down from his head. "A huge red bug. It's been a while since we saw it, Ixen."

Koushiro gritted his teeth. "Take cover!"

We all ducked as it zoned in on us. Ixen used a dodge roll to safely evade the pincers. "Torchmon!" His digimon launched himself up as high as he could.

"Flame Body!"

Tentomon flew up to cover the smaller digimon. "Petit Thunder!"

Biyomon and Hawkmon flew up after him. "Magical Fire!"

"Feather Slash!" The fire hit him and Kuwagamon was knocked back.

The Virus digimon quickly stood up and attacked them. "Power Guillotine!"

Torchmon slipped under him and was unaffected. Everyone else was hit and reverted back into In-Training. Ixen got closer. "Torchmon, get out of there!"

Kuwagamon faced the boy and opened his pincers again. "Trap Scissors!"

Torchmon attacked again. "Flame Body!" Ixen performed another roll. His partner's flames went out and he was crushed by the pincers.

"Ixen! Get back here!" I shouted. I looked down at Yokomon, Motimon, and Poromon. Ixen stood up and went to rescue them.

"Torchmon!" He drew a card and stared at if for a long time.

Koushiro held his arm back. "Are you crazy? That won't help right now!"

Miyako took the card from him and looked at it. "A Champion card? He's too weak and you have that surge protector."

Ixen looked at Torchmon helplessly as the small bird was dropped. "Torchmon! Get back here! We'll have to try again in another fight!"

Torchmon struggled to his feet. "I'm sorry, Ixen, but I'm not going to give up! I already lost once today."

Ixen squeezed his D-Pack. "Then I won't abandon you." He looked at his digivice and quietly spoke to us. "Get yourselves out of the way. I have to keep fighting if Torchmon won't stop."

Yokomon jumped out of my arms. "We won't leave you two to fight alone!"

Motimon looked up Koushiro. "I should help too."

Miyako let Poromon down onto the ground. "I guess we can't let Ixen get hurt."

Poromon nodded and the three digimon charged Kuwagamon. Torchmon stood up and Ixen clenched his teeth. "I guess all of us are crazy for doing this."

"Flame Body!" Torchmon rammed into Kuwagamon's leg.

The other digimon attacked as Kuwagamon tried to destroy Torchmon. "Scissor Arms!"

Ixen's eyes grew wide when Torchmon couldn't dodge out of way. "Torchmon!" He gripped his D-Pack tightly. A light came from his digivice and enveloped his partner.

"Torchmon digivolve to…"

"Charimon!" A winged humanoid lizard dodged the pincers. His blue eyes blazed with intense determination. He was smaller when compared to Agumon, but considerably stronger than his close relative. "Fire Shot!"

The large ball of fire made Kuwagamon back away. The large digimon regained his stance and tried to attack again. Ixen swiped in the Champion Card without hesitation. "Card Slash! Imperimon: Angel's Roar!"

"Fire Shot!" The flames were more concentrated and it expanded as Charimon forced Kuwagamon into the trees. "Aero Spin!" Charimon flew upwards and dove down with a spiral. He finished up with a distraction to help us escape. "Smoke Blast!"

Ixen waited for his partner to catch up with him before following the rest of us to the beach. "You were great, Charimon!" He took off his baseball cap and loosened the Velcro straps on his gloves. "You had me worried for a moment."

Miyako sighed in relief. "Let's get back home."

Ixen nodded in agreement. He took out his D-Terminal and sent a message to the others. "They're still with Gennai. They'll be leaving now. I'll see you all tomorrow."

He turned his D-Pack towards us and a beam of light took us back to the real world. I landed safely in my room. Yokomon stretched and smiled. "Sora, are you making dinner soon?"

I nodded. "I'll check what we have. Just take a break for now."

* * *

~TAKERU~

I tumbled out of the screen and sat on the ground. I fixed my hat and saw that Ixen had already come back. He was talking to my mother and she was glad I was home. "Takeru, are you okay?"

I nodded and Ixen pulled me up. Hikari picked up our D-3s and handed me my green one. "It's great to see Charimon again."

I saw the flying red-orange lizard stretch his wings as Patamon circled him. "I missed being able to fly. Now I won't have to use Ixen as my ride."

Ixen placed a hand on his head. "It's going to be weird without you up there."

Patamon sat on my head and smiled. "You're too heavy, Charimon."

I stepped into the kitchen and helped my mother with the groceries. "Are you two staying for dinner?"

Hikari shook her head. "We have to get back home before Taichi does. We'll see you tomorrow, Takeru."

My mother answered her ringing cell phone and stepped into her office. Ixen looked at Hikari and Gatomon as they reached the door. "Go on ahead without me. Charimon, you too. I'll catch up later."

As they left, he turned towards me. I looked at Patamon. "Go with them for now. Stay with them for five minutes then come back."

I waited for Patamon to leave and stared at Ixen. He crossed his arms. "I know what happened with the Crest of Hope. Don't think that I'm not concerned. This isn't your fault, so don't beat yourself up over me losing my Crest."

I frowned and stared at my yellow Crest of Hope. "I was being an idiot when I gave this up. I have to fix this. I can't risk getting everyone hurt."

Ixen fished his hand into his pocket. "Hold on to this. You won't be able to use it, but I can afford to be without it." He tossed me a Mega Card.

"Seraphimon?" I looked up at him.

"This one too." He handed me another Mega Card. "Ophanimon. Those are a part of my special collection. Don't lose them." He turned to head for the door. He stopped and thought for a while longer. "If anything happens, have Patamon attack the Seraphimon card and Gatomon destroy the Ophanimon card. That should be enough to create a miracle if you need one." He flashed me his real smile. "Take it as a symbol of Hope from Infinity for Light."

"Ixen," I started, "you're asking me to destroy it?"

Ixen opened the door. "I can always get another. I just have to try hard enough. Welcome back, Patamon. I'll see you two later."

I stared at the red cards that were in my hand. Patamon didn't see it well and I placed them in my front pocket. "Takeru, are you okay? I'm a little bit hungry."

I smiled at my partner. "Okay. My mom already made rice. How about some steamed vegetables and beef stir-fry?"

I felt the cards through my pocket and they glowed at my touch. Patamon didn't notice anything as I felt energy emanate from them. I separated them and put the Ophanimon card in my left pocket. It wasn't as overwhelming, but the feeling was still there. I felt happier and I was glad Ixen had entrusted them to me.


	3. Rise of the Angel Dragon, Imperimon

Notes: I'm just going to use the Japanese names for the attacks. I changed the names of Charimon's evolutions because I really didn't think they fit Ixen. I've also decided that I'm not going to have DNA digivolving since I'm not very partial to losing a few strong digimon in battle. I've found a way around that, but that will come later on in the story. I guess I should put a disclaimer here on how I only own Charimon's forms and Ixen.

* * *

~KEN~

I sat up in bed and switched off my alarm. Wormmon stayed asleep and I made sure to not disturb him as I get ready for school. I checked my D-Terminal to see if I received any messages.

_Ken, I've been thinking about something. Can you send me your files on your Dark Rings and Spirals? It's important that I see them. There's something I have to check up on after school. Tell Hikari and Takeru to meet me on File Island when their classes end. Ixen._

I booted up my computer and left to get some breakfast. I came back and Wormmon was stirring. "Ken? What are you doing on your computer?"

"Ixen needs a few files. In case it really isn't Ixen, I'm locking up the files. Ixen should get pass them no problem."

I clicked a few programs and smiled. Wormmon pulled on my pant leg. I looked down and he pointed towards the clock. "Shouldn't you be heading towards school?"

I quickly shut off my computer. "I was done anyways. Let's hurry up!"

I was still pretty early but I never liked to be late. Takeru and Hikari were walking to school and I caught up with them. Takeru turned to greet me. "Ken! You're later than normal."

"Sorry, I had to send Ixen a few things. Have you seen him?"

Hikari shook her head. "He wakes up at six and leaves at seven. Taichi doesn't see him until he gets to the middle school."

I looked at her curiously. "It'd be better if he enrolled himself here with the rest of his age."

Takeru shrugged. "It's great that he isn't here. He's too mature for a lot of people in our class." He caught a soccer ball that flew towards him. He tossed it back towards Daisuke. "Sora says that he gets a lot of attention and it drives him crazy."

Patamon and Gatomon climbed up a tree. Patamon stared down at us. "Takeru, we'll be going around town. We want to show Charimon a few things."

Gatomon gave her partner a reassuring smile. "We'll be back at lunch."

Wormmon and Veemon looked at each other. "Ken, we'll be going to Gabumon's apartment. Yamato doesn't have class and he needs a bit of our help with something."

Takeru tried to think back. "He needs help with stage setup. He has two concerts this weekend. Make sure you save us seats tonight."

I saw Charimon fly onto school grounds. "Ken! We have the file. Did you tell Takeru and Hikari yet?"

"I was getting to it." I turned to the two. "Ixen wants you both to see him in the Digital World after school. Just you two."

Hikari became worried. "He's probably going on another digital run. It must be harder this time if he wants the two of us, Takeru."

Takeru nodded and waved goodbye to the digimon. "Did he say where?"

"File Island."

Takeru let out a heavy sigh. "What else does he need to do over there? He's been visiting that place the entire week he's been here."

Class started and things were pretty much normal. Homeroom was a huge mess because our teacher still disliked Takeru. Daisuke was threatened a few times with detention. Iori made sure we in control during lunch. I played a bit of soccer with everyone.

The only thing different was how Takeru was acting. "Are you okay?"

"Just thinking. What was the file about?"

"My Dark Rings. Is something the matter?"

"Something about that doesn't seem right. It has to do with File Island and a whole lot of other things." He stared glumly at his class work. He blinked and began to laugh. "Don't worry about it. I'll figure it out later."

I looked at him doubtfully. "Takeru, if something is wrong, you should tell someone."

"I'll be fine. It always turns out that way in the end." He smiled and went back to doing his work.

* * *

~IXEN~

Charimon and I finished up my homework. I grimaced at how easy it was. "Why don't you just do it later?"

"I might forget to do it. Might as well do it now since Takeru and Hikari aren't here yet." I placed the binder into my backpack and checked my D-Pack. "They're here."

Takeru landed on his feet skillfully and waited for Hikari. The blonde smiled at me as Patamon settled on his hat. "Were you bored?"

"No," I replied blandly. "It's about time."

Hikari laughed at both of us. She turned to me seriously. "What are you going to do today?"

I crossed my arms. "We have two goals today. Well, three if things are according to plan. Our primary priority is to get Charimon to digivolve. Our second is to find my Crest." I held up my empty Tag.

Takeru stared at me intently. "Why are we here? You never have us do anything unless you're certain things are going to be edgy."

My eyes flashed and I tightened the Velcro straps to my gloves. "The whole thing during the entire time will be on Infinity Mountain. That's where the Crest is and that's where _he_ is."

Takeru pulled me by the shirt. "You can't be serious!"

Patamon fell off his head. "Takeru! Calm down! Nothing bad will happen."

"Quiet!" He looked at me squarely. "You expect me to go along with you?"

"No," I answered casually. "I expect you to decide. You can head back now, but that would mean me attempting to go up there alone or with just Hikari." I turned to look at my cousin.

She didn't know why Takeru was so intense all of a sudden. "I'm going up there to help Ixen, Takeru. You don't have to go."

I smirked devilishly and Takeru let go of me. "Fine, I'll go. But only because you both need my help."

"That a boy, Takeru." I turned towards Charimon. "Keep your senses open. I don't want to be caught off guard."

"Right, Ixen." He flew ahead and I led our small party up the base of the mountain. "Two digimon are approaching."

I slipped my hand into my card case. I looked around and saw Ogremon and Leomon. I eased up and smiled at the two friendly digimon. "It's great to see you again. Is everything alright?"

Takeru smiled at the large lion. "What are you doing here, Leomon?"

Leomon looked at the three of us and smiled. "We're out patrolling the island. Ixen, it's been a while since you've patrolled the area yourself. There were rumors that you were back. Are you here to challenge the mountain?"

I nodded. "Ogremon, why are you here?"

"Leomon and I partnered up to see what was causing all of the mayhem around the island. Afterwards, we'll go back to rivaling against each other." He raised a club. "We were planning on climbing the mountain to see what might be causing the problems."

"Maybe you should come with us," Hikari suggested. "We're helping Ixen investigate something."

"It'd be best if we stuck together," Takeru added. "That way if anything happens, we could cover for each other."

"That seems like the best way to handle this," Leomon said. His resounding voice held awesome authority. "We'll attempt the mountain together."

I nodded. "Charimon, get going."

Our party carefully made our way up and Takeru was still upset. He stood behind next to me and made sure to keep a close eye on Hikari. Charimon flew a few feet ahead of me, stopped and came back to check up on me. Gatomon walked next to Hikari as Patamon continued to stay on top of Takeru's head. Leomon and Ogremon trailed behind us silently.

Charimon stopped and Leomon pulled us back. "There's a powerful energy around here."

A red light caught my eye. "Takeru, let me see one of the cards."

He handed me the Seraphimon card. "Why is it glowing?"

I frowned and handed it back to him. "Charimon, destroy that building over there." I spotted a mansion and Takeru raised an eyebrow at me.

Patamon flew up with Charimon. "Why attack it?"

Charimon inhaled deeply and attacked. "Fire Shot!"

I sat back and watched. "All we have to do is wait. Either I'll be able to uncover my Crest or," I smiled darkly, "Devimon will show up."

Ogremon looked at me as if I were crazy. "You're challenging Devimon? What are you trying to do?"

I stood up when my Tag began to react to something. "I'm fixing things." I slapped on my cap and pulled up my ski goggles. "Charimon! Be careful!"

Patamon and Gatomon sat patiently as I ran towards the burning mansion. "Patamon, do you know what Ixen is doing?"

Hikari crossed her arms. "I guess we'll have to follow him."

"Fire Shot!" Charimon landed beside me after that last attack. "Is he going to come?"

"Death Claw!" A hand came up before me and I jumped back.

"Devimon!" Takeru gripped his digivice. "Patamon, get him!"

"Patamon digivolve to…"

"Angemon!" The great angel flew towards my opponent. "Heaven's Knuckle!"

Devimon fell back and glared at Takeru. "You again!"

Leomon took out his sword. "Lion King!" He tried to slice the fallen angel.

"Leomon, Ogremon. You both are nuisances." Devimon turned towards them. "Death Claw!" Leomon and Ogremon were knocked aside and couldn't get up. Devimon looked me squarely in the eyes. The crimson color clashed my own grey eyes. "You must be foolish to be standing up to me like this."

"Cat Punch!" Gatomon jumped forward, sending Devimon back.

"Gatomon!" Hikari held out her digivice.

"Gatomon digivolve to…"

"Angewomon!"

The two angels on our side stood behind Charimon and me. "We're here if you need our help, Ixen." Angemon calmly held out his staff.

I nodded curtly. "Where is my Crest, Devimon?"

Charimon stood boldly in front of me. "It'd be smart of you to tell us now."

Devimon laughed at me and came closer. I held out my arms to stop my companions from doing anything. Charimon stood aside and let Devimon near me. He picked me up and I stared into his bloody eyes. "Again, why are you so foolish to challenge me?"

I smirked at him and winced as he invaded my mind. "Foolish? Never. Bold? Always." I pulled out my D-Pack and allowed its light to blind him.

Angemon and Angewomon shoved the evil digimon away from me. Takeru ran forward. "Get him!" I turned to look at the blonde. His eyes burned intensely and I decided to make sure he wouldn't act on a rash decision.

"Devimon! Have you gotten weaker? I would have expected a better fight than this!"

Charimon turned around to attack Devimon. "Aero Spin!" My partner waited for a while as Devimon quickly recovered.

Devimon reached a hand towards me and my card case was sliced open. I backed away in shock and tried to pick as many as I could. Devimon picked one up and I froze. "Charimon! Destroy it!" I nearly choked on my own words.

"Fire Shot!"

Devimon tore up the card and laughed at me. "Are you sure you're still sane? You just gave me enough power to defeat you all!" He laughed and used my Myotismon Card. "Dead Scream!"

The dark spirits attacked Angemon and Angewomon. I stood up quickly and unsteadily held up a card. Takeru and Hikari looked at me with dismay. I dropped my D-Pack and fumbled through my cards. "Charimon!"

Devimon lifted me up again. His dark smile enraged me but I couldn't do a thing. "It'll be a great honor for me to destroy you." He laughed and raised his right hand. "Death Claw!"

I clenched my eyes as Charimon flew headfirst into Devimon. "Ixen!"

Light surrounded me and I thought that I was dead or worse. "Charimon?" The image of an angel-dragon flashed before me.

"Charimon digivolve to…"

"Imperimon!" A humanoid dragon held onto Devimon's dangerous right hand. His six angel wings spread out behind him. I stared at the golden helmet on his face. His blue-grey eyes reflected concern. Imperimon bared his sharp teeth at Devimon and his claws sunk into the evil digimon's arm. Light yellow leather armor covered his body and his tough red-orange skin brushed me as he forced Devimon to release me. I backed away and stared at my digimon. The long dark red spines that lined his back and tail moved as he turned his head towards me. "Ixen, are you alright?"

I numbly nodded in response. Devimon frowned and attacked his new opponent. "Razor Wing!"

I weakly stood up and Imperimon moved the fight away from me. I looked at Angewomon and Angemon. Takeru and Hikari came closer and checked on them. "Sorry, guys." I picked out two of my special cards. "Takeru, Hikari. Hand me your D-Terminals." I quickly linked my D-Pack to them and sliced the cards in. "Card Slash! Angewomon: Saint Air! Angemon: Heaven's Knuckle!"

* * *

~HIKARI~

I smiled as Angewomon was able to stand. Angemon stayed close to Takeru as the blonde told him to rest. "Imperimon can handle it."

Leomon and Ogremon stood up and watched the battle. Leomon sheathed his sword. "Getting in the way would probably cost us the battle."

Ixen nodded in agreement. "With those two cards, he'll be able to finish off the fight."

Imperimon blocked an attack that flew towards us. He pulled a fist back and charged orange energy into it. "Dragon Strike!" His claws pierced Devimon and deleted him.

I sighed in relief as the three de-digivolved. I smiled at Charimon as he collapsed to the ground. "You were great."

Takeru nodded. He pointed towards Ixen's Tag. "But he never told us where to find your Crest, Ixen."

Ixen held up the Tag and sighed. He took out his D-Pack again as Charimon gathered his cards. "It's close by." Charimon looked up at his partner as Ixen wandered towards the ruins. "Takeru! Look at this!"

Takeru and I ran urgently. Takeru froze as he stared at the portrait that hung there. "The angel! Patamon, look!"

Ixen reached out to touch is and his Tag reacted violently. Underneath the portrait, there was a symbol. It pulled itself from the wall and slipped into its proper place. Ixen stared at it in awe. "The Crest of Infinity!" He smiled at its simple design.

Ogremon congratulated us. He looked around in concern though. "There are still a few things that we have to take care of before I can resume by rivalry." He turned towards the sky. "Are those bats?"

Gatomon immediately looked up. Ixen turned up with his partner. Charimon and my partner froze. Ixen calmly breathed in. "I guess that means Myotismon wants to see us."

Takeru had his hat clenched in his hand. "He knows about your plans then?"

Ixen scowled. "He wants me to pay him back." Ixen sharply turned towards Charimon. "Server Continent will be our next target. The digi-eggs are there. That vampire demon will be waiting, but we'll have to chance it."

Charimon nodded gravely. "What about Apocalymon?"

"He won't bother us just yet. He knows he can't if Takeru's with me."

Takeru frowned. "With your Crest back, how much data is still lost?"

Ixen took out his D-Pack. "It's no good if we can't get to Mega. We still have the armor forms to worry about too." He turned towards Leomon. Ogremon had gone up the mountain to look for anything else that might have been wrong. "Take care, Leomon."

Leomon took out his sword and handed it to Ixen. "You'll need a new card to help you." Leomon was also holding onto Ogremon's bone club and Ixen carefully took both items.

Ixen smiled. He downloaded the data that was in the sword and club and gingerly held up the new cards he created. "Thank you, Leomon." He turned back towards us. "Ready to go back?"

I nodded. I held Gatomon close as he flashed his D-Pack at us. I collapsed onto the floor of the school's computer lab. Takeru fell on top of me and toppled over.

He quickly got up and helped me to my feet. "Sorry, Hikari."

Patamon sighed in relief. "At least that part is over. Takeru, we'll still help Ixen, won't we?"

The blonde nodded and saw the computer lab door to open. "Koushiro! What are you doing here?"

I smiled at the computer genius. "We have some good news."

Koushiro smiled back at us. "I wish I can say the same. But, do you know where Daisuke, Miyako, and Iori are? Ixen just messaged me saying he needs to see them right away. He said it so urgently that it made me think something was wrong."

Ixen appeared right behind him and shocked the middle school student. "Nothing is wrong! They're not here? That's too bad." He disappeared down the hall and continued his search.

Koushiro and Tentomon tried to recover from their heart attack. Tentomon scratched his head. "How does he manage to do that?"

Charimon appeared and caused the bug to jump. "Hikari! Taichi is looking for you!"

I laughed as he disappeared the same way Ixen did. Takeru smiled and told Koushiro our news. "Charimon can digivolve now." He stopped when he remembered what happened with Devimon. "We have to be careful about his cards though. Anyone can use it against him if he's not careful."

I picked up my bag and Gatomon was ready to leave. "I'll see you tonight, Takeru. I wonder what Taichi needs from me."

Koushiro smiled at me nervously. "He already asked me to come over. It has something to do with your home computer."

I waved towards Takeru and Patamon. Takeru smiled. "I'll save you seats if I can. A lot of our digimon should be there right now. Until then!"

* * *

~IORI~

I picked up my kendo equipment and headed towards my apartment. I saw Charimon flying across the street and called out to him. "Charimon! Where are you going?"

The small lizard brightened as he called for Ixen. "Iori! Are you headed home?"

Ixen caught up with us. I nodded and Ixen smiled. "Perfect. I just need Miyako and Daisuke. Meet us in the park, okay? It has to do with a higher level for your partners to digivolve." He turned towards his partner. "Let's make sure they know!" He turned around and began to run towards the middle school. "We have to perfect that program!"

I blinked at him as he disappeared. I was disappointed that Armadillomon wasn't with me. He was with Yamato and everyone else. I would have to tell him about this later.


	4. Ultimate Test

Notes: I changed the name of the Ultimate form for Charimon too. Every other form will be the same. The requirements for Daisuke, Miyako, and Iori are based on their image songs: Goggle Boy, Crash de Bingo, and Boku no Ketsuron. For Ken, it's just him being kind. For some reason, it feels as if each chapter is getting smaller. It's probably going to stay that way during the next two chapters. I'm planning something interesting, but I need to do a few preparations for it.

* * *

~MIYAKO~

"Aquilamon, are you okay?" I petted him cautiously.

"I'm fine. How is everyone else?"

Ixen crossed his arms. "Get up! All of you! I told you that this wouldn't be easier the second time." He turned to his Champion. "Imperimon! Aerial Strike!" Ixen looked towards us. "Focus on yourself! That's the only way you'll be able to win."

Ken and his Stingmon stood up. "Stingmon! Cover everyone!"

Ankylomon protected his partner from a stray shot Imperimon fired. "Iori! I don't think we can keep this up."

Iori nodded in response. "Just keep trying!"

"Hikari, cover me!" Takeru gripped his digivice tighter. "Angemon!"

"Angemon digivolve to…"

"MagnaAngemon." The great angel flew towards his dragon counterpart. "Excalibur!"

"Dragon Strike!" His claws extended and clashed against the sword. Imperimon smiled. "We're still evenly matched. You're faster though." He spun around and his tail hit MagnaAngemon.

"Gatomon, help him!" Hikari held up digivice up and allowed Gatomon to digivolve to Ultimate.

"Gatomon digivolve to…"

"Angewomon! Holy Arrow!"

Imperimon snapped it in half. Ixen breathed out calmly. "Never mind them for now. Head after Stingmon!"

His partner dove down towards the bug digimon. "Angel's Roar!" A white beam missed our ally by only a few inches.

"Stingmon! Make sure no one else gets attacked!" Ken gripped his black D-3 tightly.

"ExVeemon! Get out of the way!" The green bug pushed Daisuke's partner out of the path of Imperimon's next attack.

Light came out of the dark digivice and allowed Stingmon to become Ultimate. "Stingmon digivolve to…"

"JewelBeemon!" His wings were spread out and reflected the colors of the rainbow. Green armor surrounded his body and he held out a spear towards Imperimon.

Ixen applauded the feat. "Nice job." He smirked at us. "Imperimon, make sure the Ultimate digimon don't get into the way."

"Understood." He waited as Ixen performed a Card Slash.

"Card Slash! Etemon: Love Serenade!"

"Angel's Roar!" JewelBeemon was hit and paralyzed. He didn't revert back to Rookie, but he couldn't move or help us.

"ExVeemon! Get him!" Daisuke readjusted his goggles and Ixen sat on the ground to take a break from standing.

The redhead leaned back against the tree. He began to fiddle with his gloves as the shade blocked the sunlight. "True to my word, I'll let Imperimon take care your digimon alone. This should be interesting."

The two digimon were locked hand to hand. Imperimon rammed his helmet-covered head into ExVeemon.

"ExVeemon!" Daisuke became shaken. "Are you okay?" He subconsciously placed a hand over his goggles.

Ixen began to chuckle. "Didn't those goggles mean something to you as a Digidestined? They represent the proof that you're Taichi and Yamato's successor, right?" Ixen stood up. Although we were separated, I saw his grey eyes spark with fire and lightning. "Prove it!"

Daisuke took the bait and yelled at ExVeemon. "Let's go!"

Imperimon immediately backed away from the digivolving Champion. "ExVeemon digivolve to…"

"Paildramon!" He held out a blaster towards the dragon angel.

"Angel's Roar!" Paildramon became paralyzed. Imperimon took off again and faced off with Aquilamon.

I intently watched as Imperimon relied on his close combat attack. Aquilamon kept his distance and fired shots of his own. "Blast Laser!"

"You can do it, Aquilamon!" I looked down at Iori and he was getting his partner ready if Imperimon fell.

A voice next to me made me jump. "Can he? He won't win unless he becomes Ultimate."

I backed away from Ixen and bumped my head into the tree. "Weren't you by that tree?" I winced as my head began to throb.

Ixen smiled. "Well?" I turned as my partner fell. "It's your move."

I felt panic rise up. "Aquilamon!" My glasses became foggy and I removed them to see. I shut my eyes. "We have to beat him!"

"Aquilamon digivolve to…"

"Silphymon!"

"Too late. Angel's Roar!"

I winced again as the attack hit my partner. Imperimon turned to face Ankylomon and Iori. I looked at the rest of the battle field and saw that MagnaAngemon and Angewomon were just standing near their partners, watching. Ixen didn't bother taking them out.

Ixen stood beneath his flying partner. "Iori! I'm going to be using another card. Knowing you, it should be enough for you to get your partner to digivolve." He held a card between his thumb and index finger in that way that made him put it in an L shape. "Card Slash! Devimon: Death Claw!"

Iori gritted his teeth. "Ankylomon! Time it perfectly before attacking!"

"Dragon Strike!" Imperimon dive-bombed the armored digimon.

"Ankylomon digivolve to…"

"Shakkoumon!"

Ixen jumped in triumph as Imperimon was thrown off the large digimon. "Perfect!" He turned towards the remaining angel digimon. "MagnaAngemon! Your turn!"

"Holy Disinfection!" The paralyzed digimon regained mobility and all surrounded Ixen and his partner.

Takeru smiled at his old friend. "Your turn?"

Ixen shook his head in amusement. "To what? Lose? Definitely not. Digivolve? Sure, if I can activate my Crest." He looked up at his partner. "Give it your all!"

* * *

~IXEN~

I bit the inside of my cheek as I slid under MagnaAngemon. Activate my Crest? Sure. That was as likely as Hikari hating Takeru. Or Daisuke giving up on his role model. Or Takeru ever falling in love with the dark. Or Iori giving up kendo. Okay, there were a lot of comparisons I can use, but that's beside the point.

I quickly swiped in a purifying card to get rid of the effects of the last card. I placed the Devimon Card and purifier back into my case.

"Imperimon! Keep it up!"

I lifted up my Crest and sighed. He used up a lot of energy already. He was going to end up as an In-Training digimon if he actually kept this up.

Stupid Crest. Why did you have to have such high standards for your Bearer? I can't use you just yet, but I have to. It's either that or lose.

"Ixen!" Hikari's voice broke into my thoughts. "We have to stop right now!"

I turned to her quizzically. She pointed at the sky and I saw that it darkened. "What's going on? Imperimon?"

My digimon flew upwards with Angewomon. He looked down at me. "It's just this part of the sky that's darkened. Do you think it's him?"

I bit the inside of my cheek again. I wasn't in the mood to see the vampire demon. "Find him! While you're at it, destroy him!"

The rest of us gathered under a tree. Daisuke watched as Paildramon circled the ground. "Who are we on the lookout for?"

Takeru knitted his brows together. "Myotismon. He's weaker than his MaloMyotismon form, but he packs a powerful punch."

I gripped my Crest tightly. Miyako stared at me until I looked at her. "Sorry, Ixen. Are you okay?"

I shook my head. "Just thinking about my Crest." I looked up at the sky again and winced as Imperimon crashed down out of nowhere. "What happened?"

Angewomon collided into my fallen digimon and groaned as she got up. "He's in the sky waiting for us."

MagnaAngemon flew in front of the two and held out his blade. "Takeru!"

His partner nodded and made sure they were both ready. I pushed him aside and went to check on my partner. "He's just messing with us, Takeru. No need to push yourself to the limit."

I kept my D-Pack steady in my hand as Imperimon stood. I looked at the vampire and sighed. "What do you want?"

Myotismon flew close to me and I stopped moving. Imperimon let out a low growl as Angewomon backed away from us. She prepared an attack and I made sure I was in the safe zone. The vampire leaned in close to me and smiled. "It's been a while since I had a taste of your blood."

I swallowed my urge to vomit. "Is that a threat or compliment?" I wryly laughed. The other Ultimate digimon surrounded us and Imperimon made sure he was between the evil digimon and me.

"You're not going to lay a finger on Ixen." He snarled and his teeth gleamed at his opponent.

"It's not like you can digivolve, Imperimon." Myotismon laughed and raised his hand. "Bloody Stream!"

Imperimon shoved me out of the way and was hit. I toppled over and yelped as my partner was knocked down. "Get up! I'll be okay as long as you fight!" I gritted my teeth as Imperimon didn't have the energy to continue. "Come on!"

The other digimon struck Myotismon with attacks. "Top Gun!"

"Desperado Blaster!"

"Holy Arrow!"

"Harmonious Spirit!"

JewelBeemon and MagnaAngemon dove forward to strike the demon up close. "Shot Claw!"

"Excalibur!"

Myotismon fell to the ground but quickly attacked them when their guards were low. "Night Raid!"

I covered my head as the bats swarmed the Ultimate digimon. They didn't dare come near me or my fallen Champion. I peered through my arms and saw Myotismon advance towards me. He sneered at me and picked me up.

"Ixen!" Ken tried to run towards me, but the bats prevented him and the rest from getting to me.

"It's good to know that your return to Server Continent will be ended so quickly. How long was it since you came back? Wasn't it last week that you arrived with your worthless baby mouse?" He tossed me to the ground and my goggles began to choke me.

I moved it quickly and winced as I got up. "Imperimon, get up." My cries were weak but Imperimon was starting to respond.

I clenched my eyes shut as Myotismon picked my partner up. "It was unwise of you to actually come here when you knew I was around. You're going to pay for it. Bloody Stream!"

I fell forward and winced as Imperimon was getting battered before me. If only he could digivolve. I stared at my dangling Crest. It glowed yellow. I blinked in confusion.

"Ixen!" Takeru yelled over the screeching bats. "Get up! You can't let Myotismon destroy your partner!" I turned my head towards him and saw his Crest of Hope glowing.

I stared back at my own and focused. If I was going to activate the Crest of Infinity, I would have to put everything on the line. To get everything, you have to accept loss. My Crest was supposed to be a gamble for the better.

"Imperimon!" I got up and rammed my head into Myotismon.

"Stupid boy! Dead Scream!"

"Ixen!" Imperimon stood in front of me to take the attack. His blue-grey eyes widened as he was hit.

I felt anger rise up and my eyes filled with burning tears, knowing that I had to risk our lives to digivolve. "Imperimon!" My Crest began to glow gold and grey. My D-Pack vibrated and turned silver as brilliant light erupted from the screen.

"Imperimon digivolve to…"

Imperimon's leather armor became metallic and covered all of his body except his hands and head. Another set of angel wings grew to make the total eight. He lost a lot his dragon attributes, mainly the spines and tail. His hands were covered by gloves made from his previous self. They had sharp claws on each finger and designed to be lethal if stabbed into a target. His helmet morphed to hide his eyes from view. He triumphantly held out his right hand towards Myotismon. "Emperomon!" He turned to look at me blindly. "You're still not crying, Ixen?"

A small smile appeared on my face as I wiped up the hot tears. "They didn't fall, did they?" Emperomon levelly faced Myotismon.

Iori gasped in amazement. "How did he manage to digivolve?"

Hikari nodded her head. "Ixen needs to be willing to risk it all to get it all. He's MagnaAngemon's rival. Together, they have a combination attack that only works if Ixen uses the right aspect of his Crest."

Myotismon scowled at me. "You still don't have enough power to defeat me alone."

"Heaven's Gate!" MagnaAngemon cleared the area of bats. "Emperomon!"

"Right." He faced Myotismon and frowned. "You should never have attacked Ixen."

Myotismon flew up and prepared a final attack. "Bloody Stream!"

Both angels flew up and performed their combination attack. "Angels of Hope!"

* * *

~TAKERU~

I watched in shocked awe as MagnaAngemon pierced Myotismon in the heart. Emperomon finished off by jamming his glove claws into the open wound. I winced at how gruesome the attack was. Both angels let out a powerful light to purify Myotismon's evil.

Myotismon barely made it through the attack as the light died down. "I'll take care of you all later." He looked directly at Ixen. "You still need to carry out your duties to me."

Ixen clenched his fists. "I'm not your pawn." Myotismon laughed as he began to teleport to safety. Ixen managed to say one last thing to him. "I've paid back my debt already!"

Emperomon had fainted in midair and my partner caught the exhausted Torchmon that fell. Ixen took him carefully and walked back towards us.

Daisuke looked at the rest of the de-digivolving digimon. "We should regroup at Takeru's apartment."

Ken agreed. "We'll have to get ready for Yamato's second concert again."

I watched patiently as Ixen examined his D-Pack. He entered a new code in his digivice and shone it at us.

Once home, I went towards the fridge to get Patamon and Torchmon a drink. "Are you tired, Patamon?"

He shook his head. "I didn't use as much energy as Torchmon."

Ixen sat at the computer for a while and he scanned the Digital World. "Maybe you should stay home during the concert, Torchmon." His partner pecked him weakly. "Okay fine. I just want you safe."

Iori watched him as he dashed through the camera screens. "We won't have to rely on DNA digivolution anymore?"

Ixen shook his head. "Those were your digimon natural Ultimate forms. It's great that we'll be able to have spare fighters. I don't want you all relying on combining your digimon. It's a waste of energy and power. Besides, none of your digimon can really rival Omnimon. He's an exception because of the two Mega digimon that are required."

Miyako checked Hawkmon. "You were really great, Hawkmon. Do you think we'll be able to see you go Mega?"

Ixen turned to look at her. "All of you have a Mega form except Armadillomon." He gave the digimon and an apologetic smile. "I can give you some equipment to make your Ultimate form stronger though."

Hikari shook her head at her cousin. "I guess you're taking a break from Server Continent this weekend."

Ixen turned towards her as if she were crazy. "The digi-eggs are out there somewhere. I've got to find them before Myotismon does."

Torchmon jumped up in indignation. "It doesn't matter if I can't fight. Our goal of fixing the Digital World is our first priority." Torchmon stopped and shook in pain.

Ixen looked at his partner sadly. "No, you're right, Hikari." His partner looked up. "Rest first, battle later."

Torchmon didn't fuss as he shifted into a more comfortable position to sleep. Ixen was wearing his real smile as he began to hum a lullaby to his partner. After five long minutes, he realized that the rest of us were completely silent. He looked up at us and frowned. "What?"

Miyako laughed at him. "That was a weird way to see you."

Ixen knitted his eyebrows together and laughed softly. "I guess so." He stood up carefully. "Let's get home, Hikari. I wonder what's for dinner."

Gatomon opened the door and let everyone out. Again, Ixen was last to leave. He gave me his smug smile. "I hope you're faster at claiming your seat tonight, Takeru. You looked as if you were going to die yesterday."

I gave him a friendly glare. "Why tease me so much?"

"You're fun to mess with. Eventually, this will help you get over yourself." He gave me a serious glance. "Can you test something out for me?" He handed me a small ring. "I have two others. One for Hikari and me. It's a holy ring that I want to test out for the angel digimon." He smirked at me again. "Bye!"

I carefully closed the door and stared at the ring. It was shaped like a Dark Ring except it was white. It also collapsed and grew in size to fit a digimon. Patamon stared at it curiously. "Should I wear it, Takeru?"

I shook my head. "Not right now. I'll hold onto it for later."

* * *

~IXEN~

I took out my modified ring. I slipped it onto my partner no problem. "Are you feeling better?"

"Define better," Torchmon mumbled.

I smiled and looked at Gatomon. "Gatomon, do you feel any different?"

"Are you sure it doubles power? I still feel the same."

I rolled my eyes. "You three digimon are my guinea pigs. I guess we'll use them later on."

Taichi poked his head into my room. "Dinner! I just finished the fried rice!"

I could smell it from here. "Hopefully you didn't use too much oil this time. Let's hurry! I don't want to wait in that long line!"

Agumon and Taichi sat at the table and began eating. I slowly ate and fed Torchmon. Hikari rolled her eyes at her brother. "Slow down. You made a lot."

Gatomon and her partner ate slowly with me. I chuckled. "Taichi?" The soccer player looked at me expectantly as he downed a glass of water to help his apparent heartburn. "Do you mind visiting the Digital World with me on Monday?"

He shook his head. "Sure thing, Ixen." He swallowed again and looked at me with one eye open. "Just make sure you won't slow us down."

I smiled at him gratefully. "Thanks."

I would have to prepare for another digital run on Server Continent to look for the first digi-egg. Torchmon opened his beak for more food. I gave it to him unhesitatingly. I ate some more from my own bowl and wondered where it could be.


	5. Captured Armor

Notes: This ended up being two chapters put in one. I didn't think the first half would be so short, so I decided to add on to it. I don't own Digimon and I need to do a lot of research for the next chapter. It'll be slightly difficult, but worth it once I figure out a few things. I'm also going to include my policy of updates here. It's hard for me to find time to write, so the frequency of me writing and updating will vary on my reviews and traffic. I'll keep a close eye on them so they can tell me how important I should put writing on my list of things to do.

* * *

~YAMATO~

I held on tight to Garurumon as he ran through the forest. Ixen looked down at me from Birdramon. He looked around and saw Taichi next to me on top of Greymon.

Charimon flew quickly behind us. Ixen had given him a card that matched his speed with us. Charimon zoomed past me as he swerved up to check on Ixen.

I turned towards my best friend. "Taichi! What are we doing here?"

Taichi looked down and shrugged. "Ask my cousin!"

Ixen turned towards the both of us. He sighed and his D-Pack began beeping. "Land here!"

Sora carefully landed with her digimon and Charimon rushed to his partner. "Did you find it?"

Ixen turned in circles trying to get the direction of his target. "Hold on." He stopped when he faced west. His gold and grey digivice began beeping with persistence. "Come on!"

The two bolted across the desert and I was shook my head. "Let's go, Garurumon."

Garurumon dashed forward and Taichi and Sora were right behind us. Sora looked around the sky. "Be careful, everyone! Myotismon knows that Ixen is here."

Birdramon provide us with a little bit of shade. "We can't let our guards down for a second!"

Taichi held out his digivice. "Be prepared to digivolve to cover us, Greymon."

We found Ixen standing at the edge of the forest. He was wearing a puzzled expression. "That can't be right. Which way do we go, Charimon?"

"There's a large amount of energy coming from both directions. They seem to be digi-eggs. One feels stronger than the other though."

"The brighter one is further away. We'll have to get that another time." Ixen turned towards us. "Any sign of trouble?"

I shook my head. "Let's hurry up with what you need."

Ixen nodded sharply. "It's not far from here."

He led us along the forest's borders. The desert heat wasn't as unbearable, but I want a shower. "Tired, Yamato?"

I smiled at my partner. "Not yet. Save your strength though."

Ixen took a confident step forward onto a rock. "It's around here!" He stopped and let his weight rest on the rock. It crumbled inwards and he quickly got out of the way. He miscalculated and fell into the hole.

Charimon quickly dove after him. "Ixen!"

I ran to his aid and checked to see how I would help. Ixen was safe but he couldn't get up. "What's down there?"

Ixen explored the area and gave me a thumb up. "Get everyone down here! There's a passage down here!"

Our digimon reverted into a smaller form and we carefully descended the hole. Taichi came down last and explored the hall. "This place is huge!" His echo continued down the passage we faced.

Ixen held up his D-Pack. He took out his D-Terminal and put in a few things. "It's been a while since you three have been back here. This is Etemon's pyramid. At least what's left of it anyways." He carefully walked through the hallway. "The Digi-Egg of Infinity is in the center."

Sora kept up with him and turned towards us. "Come on, guys!"

Charimon led the group and Agumon kept an eye on our backs. I looked at the crumbled ruins and stayed quiet. Ixen was busy muttering to himself about a few notes and we silently laughed as he did so.

Taichi shook his head when he made a comment about having to study why his cousin's hair defied gravity. "Ixen, I can hear you."

Ixen turned around and blinked. "I know that. I'm just thinking. That's odd. Charimon didn't fly back yet." Charimon had flown off ahead to clear the area.

"Fire Shot!"

Ixen began running. Biyomon flew ahead to help the flying lizard. "Don't worry, Charimon. We're coming!"

I turned to my partner and he nodded. Gabumon readied himself to digivolve in case he had to.

"Fire Shot!"

We entered a huge room and I saw broken computer equipment everywhere. Charimon wasn't in the middle of his own fight. He was just watching two digimon try to destroy each other. He growled as the two digimon got in his way from reaching the digi-egg that was in the middle of the room.

I stared at the grey light coming from it. Ixen couldn't reach it without risk getting caught in the crossfire of the two digimon. Ixen looked at the orange monkey and scowled. He carefully studied the other damaged digimon and let out a frustrated growl. "Charimon! Take them down."

Etemon sneered at the lizard. "Sorry, but I'm not in the mood to deal with you. Dark Spirits!" The dark energy missed but Charimon had to fly in an arc to face him again.

Datamon smiled crookedly. "Plug Bomb!" The viruses flew out and secured Etemon to the ground. "My revenge will almost be complete. I just need that digi-egg to destroy you!"

Taichi didn't waste a second in having Agumon digivolve for backup. Greymon loomed over the two evil digimon. Gabumon and Biyomon stood in front of Sora and me in case we'd be targeted.

Ixen jumped as Datamon tried to grab him. Charimon fired off a shot to singe the broken robot. "Try that again and I'll make sure your remaining bits will become a nice addition to Ixen's card collection."

"Mega Flame!" Greymon's blast of fire made sure Etemon did nothing to harm them.

Etemon was unhurt and he laughed. "It's great to have an audience for a concert! Love Serenade!"

Greymon lost all his energy and Taichi fell off his partner. "Ixen!"

Charimon fell towards the ground and the rest of us covered our ears from the loud screeching. Ixen lost balance and fell over Datamon who quickly grabbed the boy.

"Wrong move, Etemon. You'll do as I say or I'll destroy you, Infinity."

I tried to stand up. "Gabumon!"

"Petit Fire!" Gabumon's weak shot did nothing to release the redhead.

"Magical Fire!"

Charimon tried to stand but was rammed down by Etemon. The enraged monkey snarled at Datamon. "Dark Spirits!"

The dark energy missed completely and shattered the glass casing that protected the digi-egg. Ixen covered his face as the shards rained down on them. "Charimon!"

This was becoming dangerous if we didn't do something fast. Taichi managed to get Agumon up. "Baby Flame!"

Datamon took the hit but tightened his hold around Ixen's neck. "Do that again!"

Ixen rammed his head onto Datamon's glass head. Ixen freed himself but was dazed. Charimon quickly made sure he was okay. Etemon smiled and decided to attack the three of them.

"Love Serenade!"

Our digimon attacked again and it stunned the monkey for a while. Taichi ran towards his younger cousin. Ixen held his head carefully. "Am I bleeding?"

Taichi helped him stand up. "You're alright. Let's get out of here."

Datamon stood up, slightly unbalanced. He glared at the redhead and held out a hand. "Plug Bomb!"

Charimon shot at the tiny viruses. "Fire Shot!"

Etemon attacked Datamon from behind. "I want you to stay down!"

Sora and I went to help Taichi and Ixen. Ixen refused to leave until he got the egg. Etemon and Datamon blocked the exit for us so it gave us no choice but to do as he wanted.

Biyomon fired again. "Magical Fire!" She turned towards us. "Ixen, go on!"

Ixen unsteadily walked towards the broken glass. He reached out and grabbed the digi-egg. "Digi-Armor Energize!"

* * *

~IXEN~

My head rang out in pain. The egg disappeared from my hand so I used both hands to grip my throbbing head. I saw Charimon shine before armor digivolving.

"Charimon armor digivolve to…"

"Hydramon, the Dragon of Infinity!" My partner grew larger to become a medium-sized dragon. Red-orange scales served as basic armor over his body. Eight foldable mechanical guns were attached to his head, wings, all four legs, and tail. A small turret was set on his back and I admired how it could be operated manually. He had to stand on all fours, but his two large wings helped him offset his weight.

Taichi managed to keep me on my feet. "Stay awake, Ixen. We'll see Jou soon."

I didn't pay attention to him as Datamon and Etemon continued to fight. They stopped for a while before attacking my partner. Hydramon didn't feel a thing and I saw the Holy Ring that was around his neck glow. "Triple Trident!"

Yamato and Taichi moved me behind a computer and we waited with Sora. I saw the guns open fire with lasers and missiles. I managed to stand up. Sora was surprised by the resulting damage.

Hydramon turned to face us. "Is Ixen alright?"

I took baby steps toward him. "Almost."

Sora stopped me from doing anything reckless. "We're heading home. Jou needs to see you immediately."

I took out my D-Pack, but Taichi took it away from me. "Sorry, but I don't think you're focused enough to put in the right code. We're going the long way."

I was about to answer that, but Yamato gave me a stern look. "It's too dangerous. Besides, you can ride on your new digimon."

Hydramon nudged me with his head. "Just take a rest for now, Ixen."

I nodded and lay on his back. The cockpit had two seats, but they were folded down to give me a soft, flat surface. My head rested on where I believed Hydramon's shoulder blades were. "Thanks, everyone."

Sora smiled at me. "Just relax for a while. We need to clear an exit for you."

The thick glass cover for the pit sealed up and I felt Hydramon rise up. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath as my head began to throb again.

* * *

~TAICHI~

Somehow, I received a cut from that outing. Actually, all of us had a cut. It was the darn glass that shattered. We weren't careful. Ixen didn't get cut, but he was unluckier in his wounds.

Yamato quickly applied a bandaged on his elbow. "That disinfectant stings!"

The warning came too late as Hikari sprayed it on me. I yelped. "Take it easy with that!"

Sora rolled her eyes at us. She took the can from my sister and applied it herself. "It's not that bad."

Jou smiled at us as he checked Ixen again. He took a light to the young boy's eyes. "You seem fine, but that was a dumb move."

I stared at my crazy cousin. "What made you want to ram your head into glass?"

Ixen held an ice pack to his head. "It did the trick. I'm safe, aren't I?"

Hikari frowned at him. "You need to think about the consequences, Ixen."

Ixen looked at her. "I _was_ thinking about them. Either escape from Datamon or use the digi-egg to make him stronger. I picked the one that was best for everyone else." He winced and moved the ice pack.

Charimon slept peacefully beside him. I poked the lizard's stomach and went into the kitchen. "I'm not going on another run with you, Ixen. That was too close."

Jou packed up his first aid equipment. "That's okay, Taichi. He won't be going back to the Digital World until Friday. I'll accompany him so he won't get too battered."

Ixen nodded his head. "I guess I can wait until then. I have to look up a few things first. I'm really sorry."

Yamato smiled at the boy. "It's cool, Ixen. Don't do anything reckless like that again."

* * *

~JOU~

I did one final check on Ixen before letting him and Koushiro off exploring. Mimi was playing with Charimon. For a Rookie, he sure was childish. Gomamon finished latching up my bag and smiled at me. "Let's go, Jou!"

Ixen tightened his gloves and straightened his baseball cap. His goggles hung loosely around his neck and he tested his body once more. "Thanks, Jou. I feel a lot better." He turned towards his partner. "Ready?"

Tentomon flew up and smiled at Koushiro. "Where are we going today?"

The computer genius held out his laptop. "We're going to Myotismon's castle. He's holding the Golden Egg of Infinity."

Mimi and Palmon looked at each other. Mimi looked over Koushiro's shoulder to see if it was right. "Why would he have it?"

Ixen crossed his arms. "He's trying to lure me there. Apparently, he doesn't think I've done enough for him."

Charimon growled. "I can't wait to destroy him once I become Mega."

I laughed uneasily. "Take it easy. We don't even know what he wants this time."

Koushiro packed up his laptop and strapped it to his back. "In any case, we have to move out. It should be close by."

Mimi stood near Ixen and I trailed behind everyone. I had to keep an eye out for them. Someone had to make sure they would be okay.

We reached the castle and Ixen examined the door. "How should we handle this? Charimon, what do you think about an all-out assault?"

"Fine by me." Charimon flew up and prepared an attack.

Mimi stopped Ixen from using a card. "We don't want to be too obvious. Myotismon might know that we're here, but he doesn't know the extent of it."

Ixen's face fell. "It's more fun this way." He placed his D-Pack back into his pocket and frowned. "Fine."

Koushiro inspected the rock. "There's a fault in here. We'll need to crack it open to get inside. Tentomon?"

"Petit Thunder!" The weak shock opened a passage for us.

I went inside last since I was the tallest. "I hope we won't have to worry about that weird gravity."

Ixen took out his D-Pack again. He held it in every direction possible before pointing it down. "It's in that chamber with the door to the real world. We'll have to do our best to not get caught until then. Be wary of Dokugumon."

We jogged through the halls silently. Ixen kept his D-Pack out to scan for enemies and check which direction we were headed. He was intent on finding the last Digi-Egg. Charimon normally went back and forth from his partner and scouting ahead. He wasn't using that tactic this time because Ixen could get into trouble at any second.

We reached the stairs and I looked behind us. "So far, so good. Let's hurry up." I stayed at the top until Mimi motioned for me and Gomamon to come along.

Mimi looked around and turned to me. "Do you think this is a trap? Myotismon could be waiting for us down there."

Palmon looked up at her partner. "We can't help it, Mimi. Ixen will know what to do if we get trapped."

Tentomon turned towards us and flew backwards. "I have a bad feeling about this though. We haven't seen an enemy once!"

Koushiro faced forward as he replied to his partner's comment. "But if we do see one, you should have enough energy to fight." He sighed. "You're right though; Ixen seems to be keeping a few things from us."

Ixen stopped a few yards in front of us. "Charimon, get ready. I think there's a welcoming party down there."

Charimon stared at his D-Pack and flared up. "I guess Myotismon doesn't want to take any chances."

* * *

~IXEN~

I didn't bother waiting for the others. I charged into the fray with my D-Pack ready. Charimon began his volley of fireballs. "Fire Shot!"

"Ixen, what are you doing?" Jou pulled me back as Gomamon digivolved.

"Gomamon digivolve to…"

"Ikkakumon! Harpoon Vulcan!"

He still held onto my shirt as I tried to choose a card. "Let go! I've got this under control."

Koushiro and Mimi had their partners digivolve to fight. Koushiro turned towards me and took away my card pack. "Sorry, Ixen, but jumping ahead won't do you any good."

"Fire Shot!" An explosion rang out from across the room and I turned towards my partner.

"Bloody Stream!" Myotismon caused the red whip to slam into Charimon. My partner fell to the ground.

"Mega Blaster!"

"Togemon, digivolve again!" Mimi held out her digivice and allowed the light to shine brightly.

"Togemon digivolve to…"

"Lilymon! Flower Cannon!"

Myotismon took both blows and turned his attention towards both digimon. The numerous Dokugumon swarmed my fallen partner and I panicked. "Charimon!"

"Harpoon Vulcan!" The resulting explosion caused only five to back away. "Ikkakumon digivolve to…"

"Zudomon! Hammer Spark!" The lightning bolt coursed through the ground and gave Charimon room to take off again.

Koushiro handed me my cards and I chose accordingly. "Card Slash! Angemon: Heaven's Knuckle!"

"Fire Shot!" The ball of fire pierced the spider viruses and managed to knock Myotismon down from the air.

The podium before the door caught my eye. There was a golden light and I gripped my D-Pack tightly. "Charimon! Cover me!"

The three others made sure their partners would be okay. They had to keep all of the Dokugumon busy if I were to get the final egg. I darted through and Charimon blasted the card-powered fireballs at anyone who dared get close to us.

"Ixen, what about Myotismon?"

I looked at the vampire and turned my head towards my flying digimon. "Keep him down. I can manage."

"Aero Spin!" The lizard spun rapidly and produced a bright orange aura due to the card. He charged straight towards Myotismon's heart and did major damage to stun the evil digimon.

I reached forward for the golden egg and I smiled. "Golden Armor Energize!" I boldly held the egg in front of me.

"Charimon golden armor digivolve to…"

"ExHydramon!" The golden armor gave off a blinding glare and I put up my ski goggles to admire his new form. He stood on two feet with the armor covering all of his vital areas. Two large angel wings spread out behind him as he ascended into the air. The two cannons on his wrists were aimed at Myotismon's head. His head turned towards me. "Are you okay, my liege?"

Myotismon was unfazed by the ordeal. "What are those baby guns supposed to do? Night Raid!"

I quickly performed a card slash to help. "Card Slash! MagnaAngemon: Heaven's Gate!"

A sword came out of ExHydramon's right cannon and he performed the attack.

Jou kept everyone down. "Ixen, come on!"

I nodded. "Finish this, ExHydramon!"

"Angelic Claw!" He swung his blade at the vampire demon. "Don't think you'll be able to dodge these attacks." He bared his teeth and prepared his last attack. "Hydra Blast!" The cannons blasted energy beams and he spewed fire from his mouth.

Myotismon was too close to avoid the attack. "Don't think I'll be fully destroyed." He waved an arm towards the door behind him and it opened.

I was near it and I quickly ran away from it. "What are you doing?"

"Pulling you into darkness. Apocalymon is waiting and I'll be able to recover there." Myotismon fell into the portal and laughed at me.

ExHydramon used up all of his power and reverted back into Torchmon. He fell and I had to make the trip to save him.

Koushiro had his laptop out to help us. "Ixen! You've got to make it!"

"Lilymon, help him!" Mimi tried to come after me, but Jou wouldn't allow her to put herself in danger.

The fairy digimon tried to fly towards me, but there was a wind that cast her and the rest of the digimon back. I somehow was being sucked in.

I gritted my teeth. "Koushiro!" He turned to look at me. I unclipped a secret case I had next to my normal card case. "Pass these out to everyone! Tell Takeru to give one his cards to Hikari!" I tossed it into the air.

"Flame Body!" Torchmon tackled into the case and allowed it to get to Jou safely.

He handed it to Koushiro. Jou looked at the items closely. "There are some rings here. What do we do with them?"

"Give them to the digimon. Takeru and Hikari already have one." I was already in the darkness. I tried to tell them one last thing before the door closed. "Make sure they're on! They prevent me from attacking you!"

The door locked itself and I looked at the surrounding darkness. Torchmon stayed close and I held him carefully. I made out a few menacing silhouettes and figured that this was trouble.

"Welcome, Infinity." The largest mass came close to me and I backed away as far as I could. "Don't worry about a thing. It's time for us to put your Crest to use!" A claw came for me and crushed my entire torso. "Death Claw!"

I winced and screamed at the pain. Torchmon weakly tried to fight off the claw. "Flame Body!"

I endured the pain and heard a lot of laughter. "He's not a normal person, but this is fun. How much longer?" The crimson eyes glowed with delight.

"Just wait until he becomes unconscious." I saw the sharp fangs glimmer in the darkness.

I yelled even louder as the pain increased by a thousand times. The piercing pain cut through my head and body like butter. Torchmon was being battered around by the rest of the creatures. I tried to stay awake, but the pain eventually put me out.

* * *

~KOUSHIRO~

"This is not good!" Jou was freaking out. "I promised Taichi that I would watch his cousin!"

Mimi tried to calm him down. "There's nothing we can do about it. We've got to get back home and tell everyone! Koushiro, where's the closest portal home?"

I put away my equipment. "We've got to see Gennai." I stood up and Tentomon was behind me. "_Now_," I added. The two quickly followed me out of the ruined castle. "Jou, message the older Digidestined to come. Mimi, message the younger."

We wordlessly walked through the forest and arrived at the lake. Gennai opened up a path for us and we waited for the rest to arrive. Taichi was first with Hikari. "What happened?"

Hikari looked around for her cousin. "Did something go wrong with Ixen?"

Takeru and Yamato came then. Takeru was expecting the usual smug remark from Ixen. He noticed the absence and gripped his D-3 tightly. Yamato stared at the ground blankly.

Everyone else that arrived was just as concerned and distraught. Jou, Mimi, and I tried our best to explain what had happened. We had no idea how to tell them about what was behind the door however. It was too dark and our eyes couldn't adjust towards that level of pitch blackness.

Hikari saw the grey pouch in my hands. "Koushiro, is that Ixen's?"

I looked down at if for the first time. "Yeah." I took out the cards and stared at them. "Digimon cards?"

Gennai took them carefully from me. "Ixen has been busy. These are Mega Cards. One for each of you, whether you need it or not." He handed them back to me and I looked at them. "Two seem to be missing, however."


	6. Encroaching Darkness

Notes: Sorry it took longer than normal to update. I was stuck at this chapter. A lot of research had to be done for the Mega Forms for most of the digimon. This rewrite is almost complete, but I don't think I'm going to delete the original just yet.

* * *

~SORA~

"Missing?" I asked Gennai. "What are the cards for?"

Koushiro looked them over and activated his Digimon Analyzer. Gennai attached a projector to the laptop to give us a view on what was on his screen. Koushiro happily started going through the cards. "The images on the cards are blank. I guess Ixen needs me to use the computer scanner first. The backs seem to tell me something though." He picked up the first card and turned it towards us to reveal the Crest of Courage. "Taichi, you're first."

Taichi waited as Koushiro scanned it onto his laptop. "WarGreymon," Taichi said. "I guess these have enough power to get us to Mega."

Agumon held the card carefully. "We now know why it was urgent for us to get the cards."

Koushiro checked the next card. "MetalGarurumon."

Yamato stood up. "Gabumon, what do you think about the design? It captures you perfectly!"

Gabumon stared at the image of MetalGarurumon standing on an icy cliff. "Yamato, it's just a picture." The digimon was blushing slightly.

"Hououmon." I stared at the phoenix in my card. The four shining golden wings stretched as the sun in the background enhanced the sense of holy power. "Biyomon, that looks so cool!"

"Sora? I want to be able to use it to protect you!"

Mimi picked up her card. There was an image of a queen. She was surrounded by red roses and there was a thorn whip and rapier in her hands. "Rosemon?"

"That's beautiful, Mimi." Palmon was entranced by the flowery designs.

Jou chuckled nervously as he looked at Gomamon's Mega form. Vikeman was a beast-type and was covered in thick white fur. Two morning stars were gripped tightly and ready to attack. "I wouldn't want to mess with you, Gomamon."

"Come on, Jou. I'm still going to be your lovable partner."

Koushiro finished scanning his own card. "HerculesKabuterimon. Amazing, isn't it, Tentomon?" The large golden bug on his card was in the air with his claws out.

"Koushiro, as long as I can protect you it doesn't matter."

Koushiro moved onto the last half of the deck. "Daisuke, your card."

"Imperialdramon Paladin Mode? This will be sweet!"

"No mode changes?" Veemon eagerly jumped up to view the white and gold warrior.

Miyako took her card and examined it. There was a white warrior with a helmet made to be falcon-like. A gold bird was rested on his arm and it was noticeable that this digimon was a master of arrows and swords. "Valkyrimon?"

"A falcon? I was hoping for an eagle." Hawkmon wasn't disappointed for long.

"GrandKuwagamon," Ken mused. "There's a note attached from Ixen."

Wormmon read it as he admired the large black beetle. "It's an apology, Ken. '_Sorry I couldn't get you a GrandisKuwagamon Card. Try to evolve in battle. Ixen._' GrandisKuwagamon?"

Koushiro ran the name through his computer. "He comes from the most powerful GrandKuwagamon." The picture flashed up for all of us to see. The digimon was still black and an insect-type, but GrandisKuwagamon was more humanoid. Sharp claws came from his mechanical gauntlets and threatened to tear apart the enemy.

Iori saw that there was one more card. "Koushiro, Armadillomon doesn't have a Mega form."

Armadillomon pulled off a note from the last card. "It's not a Mega Card, Iori. '_Enjoy this one kill pack. This card has the power to increase attack by 240% and double your speed. That should match you up with the other Mega forms. Ixen._' I guess he was serious about giving us more power."

Iori tucked it away safely after Koushiro scanned it and Koushiro made sure there weren't any other cards lying around. "The last two that are missing are for Takeru and Hikari. Ixen can't be serious about not having it."

Takeru stirred next to me. "Koushiro. I have the last two cards."

Hikari raised an eyebrow at her best friend. "Takeru, why didn't you tell us?"

"I forgot I had them. I was feeling a bit dejected about it just now, but the cards are reacting." He pulled out the last two cards. They glowed and filled the room with Light and Hope. "Ixen told me to hold onto it and what to do with them. We have to have our digimon destroy the cards to transfer the power to them."

Patamon patted his partner's shoulder. "That's great to know, Takeru."

Gatomon stared at Ophanimon and looked up at Hikari. "Ixen does know that I digivolved into Magnadramon once, right?"

Hikari smiled. "He does. I sent him a letter about it. He replied saying Ophanimon was more fitting."

Koushiro scanned the remaining two cards. "That's about it. All we have to do is…" His computer began beeping wildly. "Ixen's journal?"

Taichi looked up from his D-3. "What's in it?"

The genius pulled up the files onto the projector. "There's a lot of it that's highlighted. I'll have to read it and go over what's important."

Takeru and Hikari took their cards and stared at them. Takeru looked up and skimmed Ixen's logs. "There's a lot about Apocalymon in there. Do you think we'll have to face him?"

Patamon looked down at his partner. "We'll stop him, Takeru. Don't worry about a thing." Takeru smiled up at the digimon.

Taichi stood up. "We should prepare then. Yamato, Daisuke, and I will do some strategy planning. Koushiro, print out those digimon files, will you?"

Koushiro nodded and had the papers ready. I stood up and took out my digivice. "I'll head back to the real world and tell our families that we won't be back for a while."

Hikari stood up and looked at me. "Don't tell our parents about Ixen. They'll probably worry about us more than they should."

Miyako had a suggestion. "Sora, why don't we tell them that we're camping in the Digital World?"

Yamato looked at Gennai. "Can we stay here for the night?"

"Of course. Someone will have to set up the sleeping mats and blankets though. I'll be with Koushiro, looking over Ixen's files."

I heard a low grumbling and Veemon laughed nervously. "I'm a little bit hungry."

Taichi smiled at all of us. "Takeru, can you cook us something?"

Takeru was taken aback. "Me? Yamato is a better cook." He looked at his older brother. "Right, okay." He went into the kitchen and looked through the cabinets before getting to work. "Come to think of it, it's almost dinner."

* * *

~IORI~

I rolled out the sleeping mats and Jou placed two pillows on each mat. I brought the blankets over and we distributed them around each space. Mimi came to check on us and smiled. "Great work, guys. I have some hot chocolate for you both."

I took my mug gratefully. "Thank you." I took a sip and felt warm. "Is Takeru ready with dinner?"

A yelp from the kitchen answered my question. "Patamon, don't put that in the soup! That goes in this dish." Takeru took a deep breath. "I need a first aid kit."

Worried, Jou checked on the blonde and I went back into the living room. Daisuke was arguing with Yamato on how to approach battle. "If we all partner up, we can divide and conquer. Imperialdramon Paladin Mode and Omnimon are sure to be undefeatable."

Yamato crossed his arms. "That would separate us. If we're apart, we would be overpowered. Apocalymon is no joke, Daisuke. Last time he almost _killed_ my brother. Don't think I'm risking that again."

Taichi pushed them both into their seats. "How about this? We have different teams, but we'll be lined up. The front team should be an all out offense to clear the path. The back team should be defensive to watch our back."

"Taichi?" I asked. "What about Ixen? We'll need to save him, but we don't know how."

"That's a good point. Takeru and Hikari will have to be in the front team. Their digimon can handle it. Then there's the middle group we have to think about. They have to be prepared to attack and defend."

Daisuke looked at his partner. "We can do that, right? Veemon! We'll be the two top powerhouses of the group!"

Yamato took a sip of his hot chocolate. "Gabumon, we're staying in the back. We can't let everyone get too damaged from the back."

Gabumon nodded. "Okay, Yamato."

Agumon thought about his position. "We'll be up front. WarGreymon is best at attacking anyways."

I left as they needed to finish their plans. Koushiro was still skimming Ixen's journal. It was displayed on the projector in case we got bored and wanted to read it. I did just that and smiled at the adventures Ixen went through.

"That's interesting, Koushiro." Tentomon flew up and pointed at a section I had just finished. "The many versions of the Digital World and real worlds are confusing though."

Armadillomon looked at Koushiro. "Does that mean that there are a lot of other digimon that we've never seen before?"

"The digimon are somewhat the same. They're just different in how they live."

Ken frowned as Koushiro scrolled down even further. "He explored the Digital World alone with his partner. When did you actually meet him?"

"We met him after the Digital Gate closed and we returned home. A year later, we saved the internet and Japan from destruction. Then we met him. It was odd. We never expected a person like him to be on our side." Koushiro smiled at the distant memory. "But you'll see what I mean as time passes. It's hard to tell with Ixen."

Ken and I shrugged at each other. We understood most of it. Ixen couldn't be understood in just minutes. You have to dissect everything you know about him to be exactly certain of what makes him Ixen.

Takeru came out of the kitchen with a bandage wrapped around his left hand. "Dinner's ready!"

Hikari finished setting the food out onto the table. "It would have been ready sooner if someone paid attention to the heated pots." She playfully batted at Takeru's wounded hand. The blonde winced in pain.

"That hurt. I don't see how Ixen ignores the pain whenever he burns himself." Takeru realized what he said and looked down. "We're coming to get you, Ixen." He clenched his hands and breathed deeply as his burn gave him discomfort.

Sora shook her head. "Relax, Takeru. We'll go after him as soon as the dawn rises tomorrow. Ixen wouldn't want us to rush to his rescue. He's stubborn and tough like Taichi."

Taichi was already eating and he paused to swallow. "Was that a compliment or insult?" He continued to eat and we laughed.

Miyako smiled and went to eat her share of food. "Either way, Ixen will be glad to see us."

* * *

~TORCHMON~

"Ixen!" I opened my eyes in the darkness and was drifting. My partner was floating around too. I hurriedly ran towards him. "Hey, Ixen! Are you awake?"

He groaned, but didn't respond any further. A shadow rose behind me and I prepared to attack. "Calm down, it's just me."

"Flame Body!" I let out a menacing growl as the flames died on contact. "If you get any closer, I'll destroy you, Myotismon."

"With what? You're too weak to defeat me and your partner is lost in the darkness."

I looked at Ixen. He was battered and tired. It'll take a lot just to wake him up.

"Flame Body!" Myotismon laughed as I charged at him again and again to no avail.

"You two should have stayed longer under my training. It looks as if you became weaker. Bloody Stream!"

I flew into Ixen and pulled him away. "Ixen, wake up! I need you to help me!"

"Torchmon?" Ixen opened his eyes and groggily looked around. He winced and clutched his head. He groaned in pain. "Let me go. You have to get out of here."

"Not without you!"

Myotismon grabbed on to me and I rammed my head into him. It hurt me a lot more than it did the giant vampire. "You're going to digivolve. Ixen has no choice to comply with us because he's already been placed under Apocalymon. He's a slave for us to use against the other children."

"Ixen!" I struggled and felt the ring around my neck burn. It wasn't that bad. It was actually giving me power. "Flame Body!" I made my way towards the half conscious redhead and he responded by taking out his D-Pack.

"Sorry, partner. Let's get out before he recovers." Ixen spun towards a faint light. Devimon appeared in front of us and grabbed onto Ixen. "Torchmon!"

I prepared an attack, but Devimon laughed. "Attack and I'll destroy him." I stopped and looked at Ixen. "We're going to let your darkness take over. It won't hurt much."

Ixen gripped his head in pain. "Torchmon! Get out of here now! Apocalymon is in my head!" He buckled over and I watched in horror.

"Ixen…" Leaving would mean that Ixen would be in extreme danger. Staying would mean having to dark digivolve. I summoned what little strength I had and dove towards Devimon. "Flame Body!"

Ixen gave me a grim smile. "Idiot. You could have saved yourself."

"I'm supposed to protect you. And I will, even against everyone else."

Dark light flashed around me and I watched Ixen collapse. I shot by a blast of energy and was paralyzed. I wished that I was stronger. I had to get the two of us out of here.

* * *

~MIYAKO~

I finished with the clean up and grabbed my bag. Yamato and Takeru were in the kitchen and hurriedly finished cooking. The older blonde started cleaning as his younger brother packed the food into bags.

"Yamato, I think we made too much."

"Then we'll give it to Ixen. He must be starving."

"What is all this for?" I asked him.

Gabumon and Patamon were helping with the cleaning. Gabumon looked up at me. "We have no idea how long it will take to rescue Ixen so Yamato wants to be prepared just in case. Besides, we need food to evolve!"

Hawkmon was handed one pancake. "Thanks. Miyako, we better check in with Taichi."

Takeru stuffed a few bags of food into his own backpack. "Taichi, Daisuke, and Hikari are outside. Everyone else is busy with things." He slung his backpack over his shoulder. "Let's go, Patamon. We have to make sure we didn't miss anything." Patamon flew behind him as they went around checking the rooms.

I hurriedly ran upstairs and Taichi smirked at me. "Miyako, you'll be in the back group. Everyone else with you will be in charge of defending our backs. Yamato will lead you guys."

The mentioned blonde came up and crossed his arms. "What's taking so long?"

Daisuke rubbed his eyes. "What's the rush? The sun is barely over the horizon."

Ken smiled at his best friend. "The sooner the start, the faster this will be over. I hope things go smoothly."

Koushiro took out the items left in Ixen's bag. "All of us will need this. Gatomon, what does this do for the digimon exactly?" He picked up a white ring and examined the design.

"It doubles power and can prevent dark energy from hurting us. Ixen also said something about reversing evil, but he was talking to himself when he mentioned that."

Takeru was last to come up. "That's everything. Let's go!" He smiled and Hikari laughed. He looked at her quizzically.

"Taichi, Koushiro, and we are going to be the first to leave." She clipped her D-Terminal to her belt and looked at Gatomon. "Ready?" She held out her card and Gatomon nodded.

Their cards flew into the air and were attacked. Each Mega quickly flew off towards the castle.

Daisuke looked at his group. Ken, Sora, and Jou stood silently as Daisuke stared at his D-3. "How long are we supposed to wait?"

Yamato shook his head. "Thirty seconds between each group. That gives us a minute to reach the front and gives you plenty of time to move. Better digivolve now."

Another thirty seconds later, we were able to go off behind them. Yamato and MetalGarurumon moved quickly. My own digimon had to carry me, but Valkyrimon kept pace. Mimi flew next to me and smiled at me. Shakkoumon was able to swiftly stay with us thanks to that kill pack.

"Be prepared for any trouble!" Yamato looked around him and MetalGarurumon dodged a growing fissure.

The castle ahead of us broke apart and revealed a black hole. We saw Koushiro lead everyone else in and we hurriedly followed them.

I panicked as everything became dark and lifeless. I was floating in nothing. Light mixed in with the shadows and gave me a foreboding sense of danger. "Where are we?"

All of the groups stopped. We looked around and Taichi began to flip upside down. "What is with this place?" He managed to get right-side up, but it was hard for him to control his movements.

I saw a figure floating off a distance away. "Is that Ixen?"

Takeru moved forward. He quickly grew accustomed to the weightlessness and managed to dive forward. "Ixen? Hey, wake up! Where's Torchmon? We've got to get you out of here."

Ixen sat up. He blinked and Takeru immediately backed away. He panicked and was trapped as Ixen grabbed the blonde and shoved him into a materializing wall. "No one is going to leave this place." His arm pressed onto Takeru's throat to cut off his air supply.

"Takeru!" Seraphimon dashed forward but was met with a digimon.

The digimon was similar to Emperomon except his helmet was dented. His wings were decaying, but somehow supported the digimon in the air. Liquid poison dripped from his claws and I didn't want to know what kind of digimon this was. "It's been a while since I was able to destroy." He let out a sickening laugh and Ixen pressed his arm harder against Takeru.

"Don't waste any time, Tyrantmon. We have a schedule of destruction to keep." Ixen watched as Takeru was running out of air.

"Tyrantmon?" Koushiro gritted his teeth. "This isn't going to be good at all."

"Poison Claw!" Tyrantmon dove towards Seraphimon, but missed.

"Don't worry, Takeru. I'm coming."

Tyrantmon knew that fighting the angel was a lost cause. He turned towards us and broke our group. "How fun. Me against so many Mega digimon. Should I digivolve, Ixen?"

"Not yet. We need more power for that." Ixen ducked back as Seraphimon advanced on him.

"Death Impact!" Dark energy surged around the evil digimon. He was going to ram into WarGreymon, but something happened. A white ring around Tyrantmon's waste glowed and stopped the digimon in the middle of his attack. "What's going on?"

Ixen was busy as he was surrounded by Taichi, Yamato, Daisuke, and Ken. "Where's our backup? They should have been here already." He struggled as Taichi restrained his movements.

"Ixen, snap out of it. We're here to help you."

Laughter rang throughout the room. Apocalymon appeared and swatted the digimon away. "Help? Nothing can get him to return. His mind is completely in the darkness."

Myotismon and Devimon appeared, but Tyrantmon had other plans than let them get in his way. "Death Impact!" Dark red mist surrounded him as he rammed into both evil digimon. The two were completely unprepared for the blow. They were destroyed on contact and their left over energy was absorbed.

Ixen smirked and threw his cousin off of him. "Tyrantmon! Digivolve now!"

Jou turned to Vikemon. "Stop him!"

Vikemon ran forward and swung his morning star at Tyrantmon. The dark angel took the hit and was knocked down. Tyrantmon shook it off and began to digivolve to Mega.

"GranKuwagamon, we have to do something!" Ken held out his D-3 and gripped it tightly. GrandKuwagamon was able to digivolve, but Ixen shook his head in amusement.

Ixen laughed. "Really? Nothing is going to stop us. Devimon and Myotismon were fun opponents. But destroying them was nothing! ShadowInfinimon! Time for another training session! Destroy them!" Ixen continued to laugh and it was a complete contrast to how neutral he normally seemed.

Sora shook her head. "I hate to do this, Ixen. Hououmon! Don't let Ixen anywhere near his partner!"

Ixen frantically dodged the bird digimon as he focused on his dark digimon. ShadowInfinimon had even more armor than before. Everything was rusted and his helmet had cracked open to reveal a skull. The empty sockets let out an eerie red glow. Two rusted swords were held tightly as he chuckled at our fear.

ShadowInfinimon dashed forward and rammed into Imperialdramon. "It was fun to see Devimon and Myotismon be deleted by my hands. It gave me the strength to obtain this form after so long! Destroying you all would mean permanently staying like this!" His laughter echoed through the empty room.

* * *

~DAISUKE~

Imperialdramon was in trouble. I had to help him somehow. Just hearing the laughter froze me up.

ShadowInfinimon dove towards my partner and I panicked. "Imperialdramon!"

"Don't worry about me, Daisuke! Omega Blade!" His sword clashed with the two rusted blades. Sparks flew and ShadowInfinimon was forced to back up.

"Demon's Rage!" Fire erupted from the blades and he dashed forward. He paused and let out a yell of pain. His attack was completely cancelled as the white ring glowed brightly.

Ixen snuck out of Hououmon's grasp and moved towards his partner. "Don't do anything! That ring needs to be removed!"

Taichi grabbed his cousin. "You're not going anywhere, Ixen."

Ixen fumbled for his D-Pack, but he dropped it. I managed to save it from the bottomless pit beneath us. I held it up. "Koushiro!" I tossed it towards him and he caught it.

"Give that back!" ShadowInfinimon became enraged and he held out his sword towards Jou. "Death Blast!" He charged dark energy but Vikemon swatted the ball back at him.

Apocalymon was faring much better than him though. Seraphimon and Ophanimon couldn't get anywhere near him. Rosemon attacked once again, but she couldn't get close enough to actually harm the giant monster.

Ixen watched from where he was. He was shivering and Taichi tried his best to keep him under control. "Ixen, come on! This is your Crest! You can't let Apocalymon take it. You always want to fix things on your own. Didn't you write in your journal that Apocalymon can and will destroy your partner for power?"

MetalGarurumon pounced onto the darkened digimon. "Cocytus Breath!" He jumped away and left behind a completely frozen and useless ShadowInfinimon.

Ixen watched silently. Apocalymon sent out one of his tentacles to grab onto the icicle. "Perfect. Now for the ultimate powers to become mine!"

Ixen flashed with anger. "Stay away from him!" Taichi let go as Koushiro tossed Ixen his D-Pack. His D-Pack flashed gold and surrounded our digimon and us.

ShadowInfinimon was thawed, but weakened. "You wanted to destroy me?" He stood tall and held out his rusted blades towards Apocalymon.

Seraphimon struck him from behind. "Divine Breaker!"

Apocalymon laughed. "Darkness Zone!"

I shielded my eyes and saw Imperialdramon dash towards the huge digimon. "Positron Laser!"

The holy rings Ixen made protected them from the attack and Imperialdramon managed to stun him. He still made an effort to retaliate though. "You still can't defeat me. You haven't enough power to stop me from destroying you!" He grasped onto ShadowInfinimon.

ShadowInfinimon didn't respond. He had been knocked out of commission and Ixen squeezed his D-Pack furiously. He took a deep breath. "Everyone!" The digimon turned towards him. "Attack ShadowInfinimon!"

* * *

~IXEN~

It was a huge risk, but I had to take it. They looked at me oddly though. Didn't they understand the consequences if they didn't attack him? Whoever deleted him would get his power. It was them or Apocalymon.

"Ixen, you're giving up on your partner," Mimi said. She frowned at me.

Iori understood my sacrifice. "You're not going to let Apocalymon take the power. Isn't there another way?"

Takeru sadly looked at Seraphimon. "This will be hard for me to do. Ixen?"

They looked at me expectantly. I stared at my D-Pack and gripped it tight. "Go on."

WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon had both become Omnimon. The holy knight hesitated slightly on my word. Taichi and Yamato convinced him to not hesitate.

"Omega Blast!" Omnimon fired his most powerful attack.

The other digimon soon followed. "Crimson Flame!" The flames managed to damage Apocalymon and he was forced to release ShadowInfinimon.

"Giga Blaster!" The electric explosion cracked the rusted armor further.

"Arctic Blizzard!" Vikemon froze and crashed through ShadowInfinimon. A shiver ran through my body as Apocalymon's tentacle was frozen just in time to prevent him from touching my partner.

"Thorn Shoot!" The spines clung to him as he managed to regain consciousness.

"Giga Crusher!" The waves of energy managed to stop ShadowInfinimon from retaliating.

"Grandis Scissors!" GrandisKuwagamon cut through the air and the blow hit my partner.

"Rough Spirit!" The red laser shattered the remnants of my partner's helmet.

"Laser Javelin!" Valkyrimon threw the spear and it pierced the rusted chest plate.

Hikari refused to let Ophanimon attack however. I was wincing the entire time. She was feeling sorry for me. I looked at the screen at my D-Pack and saw that it had cracked slightly. "Just one more attack. You have to delete him!"

Takeru and Seraphimon looked at me. Takeru turned towards Hikari. "How about we reuse that old prophecy?"

I tensed. "Shoot me?" I sensed that ShadowInfinimon was going to regain mobility. The other digimon had moved onto to keep Apocalymon back. There was no time to deliberate my choice. I turned towards the two angel digimon. "Fine."

Hikari smirked at me. "Another bold move?" She shook her head. "I hope Takeru is right."

Ophanimon and Seraphimon turned towards me. I took a deep breath. "Don't hold back!"

Seraphimon raised a fist and Ophanimon lifted her javelin. I closed my eyes and held my breath.

"Divine Breaker!"

"Eden's Javelin!"

Both attacks squarely landed on their marks. I was blinded by white. I flew backwards in the void and heard a concerned yell. An enraged roar rebounded in my mind as Apocalymon grew furious at my actions.


	7. Towards Infinity

Notes: This chapter is short, but it wraps up the story. I don't own anything except for Ixen and his belongings. I've also been working on the next story. My third installment! It will be somewhat different since it will be an adventure-based Takari. Well, we'll see how it goes.

* * *

~TAICHI~

"Ixen!" ShadowInfinimon's armor shattered like glass. The shards disintegrated and left behind a weakened Charimon. I looked around for my cousin.

Apocalymon roared in rage. "What have you done?" He batted Omnimon out of the way and made his way towards Takeru and Hikari. "I'll destroy you!"

"Takeru!" Yamato ran forward but he still wasn't used to the physics of this place. "Takeru!"

I dove forward and Omnimon managed to catch both of us. "Don't worry. We'll get to them!"

Daisuke and Imperialdramon rushed the large digimon. "Come and get us!"

"Positron Laser!"

I turned towards Sora. "Get them out of there!"

Hououmon hurriedly grabbed Hikari and Ixen. Takeru faced Apocalymon. "Seraphimon! Ophanimon! Let's go!"

I jumped off of Omnimon's soldier to check on Ixen. His card case had been burned into nothing. "Ixen?"

Jou hurriedly opened his bag. "He has a pulse, but what were you thinking, Hikari?"

"We couldn't destroy his partner."

"That doesn't mean you can just shoot him with two holy attacks!" I yelled.

Ixen groaned. "Don't blame them, Taichi." He managed to sit up. "My c-c-cards." He reached for his case.

"Sorry, Ixen," Hikari stated. "They're all destroyed."

Ixen shook his head and pulled out a grey and gold card. "Are the digimon wearing the white rings?" I glanced at all of the digimon and nodded. "Good. One last card slash." He stood up unsteadily.

"What are you doing?" Jou held him back. "You can't do anything in your conditions!"

Ixen pulled away and held out the card. "Card Slash! Infinimon!"

The rings broke and circled Charimon. Ixen fell back and Yamato kept him sturdy. I supported him as he watched the rings heal his partner.

Rosemon and Mimi backed away from Apocalymon as he reached for the glowing mass. Mimi signaled for Takeru to get back. "Come on!"

Takeru turned towards us and placed a hand on Ixen's forehead. "Why are you burning up?"

"Side effect," Ixen muttered. He stood on his own and attempted to float towards the glowing digimon. "Infinimon." He let his strength gather and dashed forward. "Infinimon!"

The shining shards took shape and turned towards him. An angel knight stood before us. He was completely the opposite of his darkened version. His grey dragon armor sparkled in the dim light. His helmet completely covered his face and two light grey eyes peered out at Ixen. His ten angel wings were half folded behind him. The two rusted swords that belonged to ShadowInfinimon had been restored into a golden blade.

Apocalymon didn't hesitate to prevent the new Mega from becoming a threat. "Time for a new attack!" He grabbed Infinimon and sneered at Ixen. "Death Grip!" Infinimon was squeezed tightly causing his sword to vanish. He was paralyzed and was as useless as ShadowInfinimon.

Ixen stopped and hesitated. He turned at his D-Pack and saw that a crack ran through the screen. He flipped it open and it caused the digivice to explode a little.

Apocalymon laughed at the turn out. "Without that D-Pack, you can't help your partner."

Infinimon watched Ixen as the boy felt despair. Ken wouldn't allow the evil digimon to have victory. "Attack!"

"Gran Killer!" The sharp claws of the insect digimon buried themselves into the casing that held the tentacles.

* * *

~YAMATO~

"Omnimon, get going," I said. The digimon nodded and went to aid Vikemon. I looked towards Ixen. "Come on, Ixen. You've got to get up."

"Infinimon…" Ixen blankly looked at the broken digivice. "What have I done?"

I went over to pull him up. "This is no time to be feeling self-pity! Infinimon can fight only if you will him to."

Ixen shoved me away weakly. "He can't fight. Not as he is right now."

Shakkoumon blasted a tentacle that was getting too close to the immobilized Mega. Iori gripped his digivice. "Ixen! Snap out of it!"

Ixen gripped his head. "Stop telling me what to do! He can't fight! The two of us are useless!"

Taichi and I looked at each other. I punched him with half of my strength. Ixen was stunned by the blow and he turned to see his partner. He gritted his teeth and attempted to punch me back. I caught it in one hand and punched him again.

Taichi shook his head. "If you're not going to fight, why fight back?"

Ixen stopped. He stared at Infinimon as the digimon strained to move. "Infinimon, what are you doing?"

Valkyrimon carried him up and managed to get him closer. "Ixen, don't you have something else to help him?"

Daisuke came back with Sora. "We've got to do something. No one is winning, but we can't keep this up. Imperialdramon is getting tired and Takeru cleared out his backpack." Sora took out the last pancake she had and handed it to Valkyrimon.

I looked at Omnimon and saw that his movements were slower than normal. He was running out of energy. "Ixen! Come on! You've got to try!"

Ixen struggled to think. "Infinimon…"

His partner responded by turning his head towards the boy. "My liege, he's right."

The boy responded only by closing his fist around his D-Pack. "You won't stand a chance in your condition. There's only one other thing to do." He lowered his head. "I can't risk that though."

Takeru hollered from where he was. "He's coming this way! Seraphimon!"

Hikari looked up and saw Takeru's partner soar into Hououmon. "Ophanimon! Cover them!"

"Eden's Javelin!"

Infinimon painfully got to his feet. "I'll take the chance, my liege."

Ixen looked up in distress. "But!" He saw the determination in his partner and gritted his teeth. "Fine, but only because there's no other way."

"Ixen…" Infinimon's eyes glowed in amusement. "Worried?"

That finally got through to the redhead. "Me?" He chuckled as he readied his sacrifice. "Maybe. Just don't get too battered. Repairing my D-Pack is hard enough."

Infinimon nodded towards Ixen. "Very well then." He flew towards Apocalymon and Ixen tightened his fist around the broken digivice.

Taichi stared at him. "Loosen your grip, will you?"

Ixen opened his palm and looked at the broken digivice. "It's not that bad. It was worse when the system overrode itself with that virus." The boy braced himself as his Crest began to glow.

"Get back, everyone!" Infinimon braced himself. "It's time for the Crest of Infinity to unleash itself! Infinimon mode change to Dual Blade Mode!" The golden sword rematerialized in his right hand. A second blade made of silver appeared in his left hand. His body armor became silver while his helmet was covered in gold. On the front of his chest plate, a grey emblem of Ixen's Crest of Infinity proudly revealed itself. He raised his silver sword up. "Eternal Charge!"

Omnimon charged his most powerful attack and aimed it at the blade. "Omega Blast!"

"Giga Death!" Imperialdramon Paladin Mode did the same and pretty soon the other digimon followed suit.

"Seven Heavens!"

"Seriphote Crystal!"

"Grandis Scissors!"

"Star-Light Explosion!"

"Arctic Blizzard!"

"Forbidden Temptation!"

"Aurvandil's Arrow!"

"Giga Blaster!"

"Rough Spirit!"

The silver blade absorbed each attack and Infinimon held out his golden blade steadily. The silver sword glowed and sent the energy flowing throughout the digimon's body. Ixen chuckled giddily and nervously as the other digimon dedigivolved. "That should be enough for his three attacks."

* * *

~DAISUKE~

"Three? That many?" I asked.

Ixen nodded. "First he uses his sword combination attack."

"Imperial Blade!" He stabbed the silver blade into the polyhedron body. The large addition turned into data as Infinimon backed away a few feet.

Koushiro smiled. "Next should be his elemental attack."

Ixen nodded. Infinimon paused and readied the move. "Elemental Break!" Fire surged around him and lightning flashed as he dashed through Apocalymon's main body. Ice and wind chilled around them and Infinimon got distance between them and resulted in a large static explosion.

Ixen's excitement immediately died down. "And this is where I have to hope for the best."

Takeru gave him a determined smile. "He'll be okay."

"Infinity Strike!" Infinimon let the rest of the energy he received channel into both his swords. The swords came together and he dove head on into the evil digimon.

Jou pulled me back. I turned towards him and saw that everyone else was running to get out. "Come on, Daisuke!"

DemiVeemon and I rushed behind him. "What about Infinimon?" I yelled.

Ixen waited by the door that led to the Digital World. "I've got him."

There was an impact and I saw Apocalymon disappear. Ixen went back in and I was about to go in after him, but Ken held me back. "Leave him be, Daisuke. He'll be fine."

I looked down at DemiVeemon. "That was close."

Miyako held Poromon in her arms. "But amazing! Do you think Apocalymon will stay defeated?"

Ixen came back out with a small red-orange digi-egg. He heard the question and sighed. "Hopefully." He looked at the egg. "This just prolongs my stay." His tone was meant to be annoyed and sad, but he smiled slyly as Mimi cheered.

"That means you get to stay for Christmas and New Year's. There's so much to do until then!"

Ixen was at a loss for words. Koushiro laughed nervously. "You also can't leave until we get that D-Pack of yours working again."

Ixen stared at the remains. He crushed it in his fist once more. "Time to rebuild it from scratch."

Takeru shook his head in disbelief. "Really, Ixen." He looked at the sky and saw that it was dawn. He glanced at his D-3. "It's Monday! We spent the entire weekend in there. Hopefully we won't be in trouble."

Taichi stood up. "Let's get going! Closest portal home would be Gennai's house!" He ran with Koromon in his arms.

* * *

~IXEN~

I looked at my backpack and picked it up. It wasn't as heavy as it looked, but I had to readjust my straps. "Infinimon, are you ready?"

My partner sheathed his swords and bowed. "No goodbye?"

"It's too early in the morning for that." I opened the door slightly. "Let's move."

We left the apartment and hurried to the parking lot. I smiled and fidgeted with my newly repaired D-Pack. Infinimon kept close to me. "Are you sure about leaving, my liege?"

"I'm sure."

"You don't seem sure."

I looked up at the golden helmet. "We promised to stay until New Year's Day. You're also strong enough now so I'm certain it's okay to leave."

"Ixen!" I froze and turned. We were passing the park and everyone was here. Taichi stood up from his spot and put me in a headlock. "You're not leaving just yet!"

Infinimon took off my backpack to make it easier on me. "How'd you know that I was going?"

Takeru smiled at me. "We keep an eye on you. And I remember all promises."

I smirked at him. "I've got to go soon. What's up?"

Yamato gave me a new belt pouch. "Even though you insisted on not receiving a present on Christmas, we all chipped in to get you new gear. Consider it a birthday present since today is your birthday."

I looked up in surprise. I turned towards Infinimon. "You told them that I was born on New Year's?"

"I don't think I did. They must have found out somehow."

I took off my belt and opened the new presents. I smiled at them all as I pulled off my old worn gloves. "Thanks, everyone. I promise I'll be back this summer." I slipped on the new gloves and tested the mobility. "We'll be even stronger then."

They all smiled at me and I put on my baseball cap. I pulled the bill down to hide my watery eyes. "Take care, Ixen. Message us once in a while, will you?"

I looked up at my cousin. "Don't worry, Taichi. I will." I looked at Infinimon and he tilted his head towards me. "Let's go, Infinimon! Towards Infinity."

* * *

Final Notes: The end is going to be always the place I ask for reviews. But reviews during the story also determine how often I'll be working on the story. I already have the first chapter of my next story ready. I'll publish it as soon as I check it over. Until next time! ^_^


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